Obama's budget is still deceptive, just not in ways we're used
to.  Who's winning, who's losing, and why. Feb. 26 2009 9:49 PM
Gimmicks We Can Believe In   US President elect Barack Obama (R)
names Peter Orzag (L) the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget. Click image to expand. Office of Management and
Budget Director Peter Orzag with Barack Obama  All presidential
budgets are rife with trap doors, gimmicks, and flimflammery.
This annual budget exercise is like a grand, national fish story
every president gets to tell: Each administration exaggerates
differently, but the basic story is the same.  John Dickerson
John Dickerson   That said, President Obama's $3.55 trillion
budget is different in at least two significant ways. First, it
will be held to a higher standard—at the insistence of the
administration itself. And, second, its gimmicks are designed to
make the administration look as if it is saving more, not
spending less.  Rarely has an administration made such a big
deal about its honesty an