Inside the Beltway: Reckless, irresponsible: The 2017 budget reviews are in

NEWS AND OPINION:

“The fact that President Obama has only submitted two budgets on time in his eight years in office clearly demonstrates the importance he places on actually having a budget. It’s ironic that he is quick to use his pen and phone, but slow to put forward a fiscal blueprint,” declares Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling, one of many Republicans irked by the budget blueprint released Tuesday. Mr. Obama, incidentally, departs the nation’s capital Wednesday for a weeklong jaunt out west that includes fundraising, an appearance on late-night TV and a weekend in Rancho Mirage, California.

The president did leave the 182-page budget and its behemoth price tag behind for review. Here’s a few samples of what the lawmakers thought of it:

“Basically more of the same: a $4 trillion budget that is unserious, partisan and contains reckless spending” (Sen. John Cornyn); “Obama’s liberal wish list is dead on arrival” (Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Bill Flores); “The budget spends more on countering climate change, not countering violent extremism” (House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Michael T. McCaul); “Completely detached from reality” (Rep. Diane Black); “Empty political posturing” (House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy); “Unbalanced and irresponsible” (House Committee on the Budget Chairman Tom Price); “For the president, this budget is a progressive dream; for America’s 28 million small businesses, it is their worst nightmare” (House Committee on Small Business Chairman Rep. Steve Chabot).

LET THE RACE BEGIN

The political landscape grows clearer: Iowa and New Hampshire have come and gone, South Carolina and Nevada loom, as does Super Tuesday. The White House race has taken on a new dimension as it picks up speed.

“Here is where we begin to see what these candidates are really made of,” says veteran pollster John Zogby. “Issues are very important, but the character to inspire, lead, legislate, persuade, engage the public, laugh at themselves when they should and cry with the rest of us when they must — that is what the presidency is all about.”

GOP SETS 64-YEAR RECORD IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

New Hampshire voters had a historic number of bona fide Republican hopefuls to consider in the presidential primary Tuesday. Though eight other candidates dropped out of the GOP field in the last five months, Granite State voters could still choose from nine active, nonfringe Republicans.

“That is the largest number of such candidates across the 17 cycles since 1952, when the first primary with candidate voter-preference options made its debut,” says Eric Ostermeier, a University of Minnesota political professor who pored over election records and made the analysis.

“The previous high-water mark was eight active Republican candidates who had not yet suspended their presidential campaigns at the time of the New Hampshire primary, set 20 years ago in 1996,” he says. Here’s who was on the ballot back in the day: Bob Dole, Pat Buchanan, Lamar Alexander, Steve Forbes, Dick Lugar, Alan Keyes, Morry Taylor and Bob Dornan were all still in the race when the Granite State primary was held on Feb. 20 of that year. Texas Sen. Phil Gramm had exited after the Iowa caucuses.

WRESTLING WITH THE NEW NORMAL

“Unpredictable instability has become the new normal, and this trend will continue for the foreseeable future. Violent extremists are operationally active in about 40 countries. Seven countries are experiencing a collapse of central government authority, 14 others face regime-threatening or violent instability or both. Another 59 countries face a significant risk of instability through 2016,” Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee during his annual worldwide threat assessment on Tuesday.

“Migration and displacement will strain countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. There are now some 60 million people who are considered displaced globally,” Mr. Clapper continued, on point and unflinching — marching right through a threat list that includes Islamic State, cyber sabotage, aggressive nonstate actors, infectious disease, vulnerable food supplies, weapons of mass destruction, satellite warfare, fentanyl-laced heroin, Iran, Russia, China, North Korea — the list goes on.

And now we pause, please, for a round of applause for Mr. Clapper and the entire Intelligence Community, for their inner mettle, focus and skill. And courage.

“I’ll stop my litany of doom here,” Mr. Clapper later noted, ceding the microphone to Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

BEN CARSON’S RENEWED ENERGY

News organizations took cryptic, critical note when Republican hopeful Ben Carson left New Hampshire on Tuesday before the primary results were in, bound for South Carolina, site of the next GOP debate on Saturday and another primary on Feb. 20. “It’s sad to see the press more preoccupied with dissecting the minutia of his schedule than reporting on his proposals to reinvigorate the country,” Mr. Carson’s campaign said in response, noting that the candidate himself has “renewed energy” from the support he’s seen on the campaign trail.

Mr. Carson’s upcoming schedule includes “faith and family” presidential forums at both Winthrop University and Bob Jones University.

POLL DU JOUR

• 80 percent of Americans say climate change is related to a normal cycle in global temperatures; 91 percent of Republicans, 81 percent of independents and 45 percent of Democrats agree.

• 53 percent overall say climate change is a result of human activity; 30 percent of Republicans, 48 percent of independents and 77 percent of Democrats agree.

• 28 percent overall say climate change is not related to human activity; 41 percent of Republicans, 32 percent of independents and 11 percent of Democrats agree.

• 12 percent overall say a rise in global temperatures is “unprecedented”; 5 percent of Republicans, 12 percent of independents and 30 percent of Democrats agree.

• 9 percent overall say there is no climate change; 13 percent of Republicans, 9 percent of independents and 4 percent of Democrats agree.

Source: A YouGov poll of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted Jan. 21-22 and released Friday.

Ballyhoo and hoopla to jharper@washingtontimes.com