President Obama is a minimalist. Confronted by a public that has rejected his policies and voted for a Republican landslide in last November’s election, Obama has offered the bare minimum, or less, to accommodate the new public mood.

The American people want spending cuts. In his State of the Union address, Obama proposed to freeze discretionary domestic spending – a fraction of overall spending – for five years to save $400 billion. Compared to the $3 trillion he added the national debt in the past two years and the trillions more projected over the next 8 years, this is a minuscule amount.