EconomistMom.com

Actually, more generally, Stan explains (in his “Fiscal Fitness” column in Roll Call) why only a small number of inside-the-Beltway budget geeks like me (and Stan, of course) seem to be talking about the federal budget these days.  Stan has posted the full column over on his Capital Gains and Games blog.  Here’s the passage referring to the campaign season and then the movie I.O.U.S.A.:

…the most obvious reason the budget isn’t a major issue this year is the pain involved in discussing it just before an election. Any serious deficit reduction plan involves tax increases and spending reductions, and there’s no way to be specific about that without creating huge political problems. Simply saying the budget is a problem that has to be dealt with almost immediately results in the follow-up question that few want to answer: “What are you proposing?”

It’s not that some aren’t trying very hard to raise the budget as an issue. A new documentary is being shown with some fanfare across the country that raises awareness of the situation. Reports are being published by politically unbiased organizations that highlight where the presidential candidates stand on the budget and what their policies would do. And local meetings across the country have been held in recent years by others to bring the budget issue directly to voters. (Full disclosure: My firm represents some of the organizations involved in these efforts.)

These efforts will make some difference. But given the efforts of the Bush administration to downplay the budget and this year’s overall hostile environment toward the issue, the real impact is likely to be felt more deeply after, rather than before, Election Day.

I agree with Stan, that the real substance of these budget policy issues is unlikely to get touched until after the election.  My real work at this point is what I consider gearing up for January and the start of a new Administration and new Congress.  I have no doubt that although the federal budget isn’t a big issue now, it will become a huge one right out of the gate in 2009.