President Obama’s defenders insist that the charge that he increased deficits is some sort of right-wing myth. But it’s hard to argue with the data. All you have to do is go back and look at what the Congressional Budget Office was projecting deficits would be when Obama took office, and compare it to what they have actually been, based on updated data from a report released this morning.

Those who try to defend Obama’s deficit record believe that the 2009 budget year, which began on Oct. 1, 2008, should count toward President Bush’s record. This even though Obama was in charge for the last eight months of the fiscal year which extended to Sept. 30, 2009 and even though he signed off on spending bills. The 2009 fiscal year also includes the early stages of Obama’s stimulus. But just for the sake of argument, let’s take 2009 out of the equation and only consider fiscal years 2010 through 2012, a period in which Obama has been president the whole time.