Barack Obama has submitted a budget plan that spends over $400 billion dollars more than the previous administration’s last full budget, an increase of 12%. That comes on top of an off-budget additional $787 billion in the “stimulus” bill, hundreds of billions in extra TARP funding, and an estimated $635 billion “down-payment” on health-care reform, also off-budget. How does Obama plan to pay for all of that? As we noted in last week’s Obamateurisms, Obama offset this with a whopping $17 billion in proposed cuts, half of which comes at the expense of national defense. As reader Michael D points out, Obama offered a rather strange explanation for his decision to focus on the Pentagon:

“We can no longer afford to spend as if deficits do not matter and waste is not our problem,” Mr. Obama said.

Really? After offering a 12% increase in the budget and an additional $1.4 trillion in off-budget, ideologically-driven government interference in the market, Obama blames the Pentagon for the deficit? Perhaps this little chart will remind people of Obama’s commitment to deficit reform:

The total for Pentagon spending in this budget actually increases overall to around $570 billion. As you can see, that comes to less than a third of 2009’s deficit, and about half of the lowest year in the next decade under Obama’s budget plan –and that’s only if Obama’s rosy economic predictions come true.

The people spending like deficits do not matter are all in the White House.

Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at [email protected] with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.

Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Be sure to read the adventures of Sam, Zed, Damon, and Jan every day!