“Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive.  Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better…stronger…faster.”

So began the narration to one of my favorite boyhood television shows in the mid-1970s.  The $6M dollar man was everybody’s hero, because he could run faster, jump higher, and was far stronger than anyone else.  Yes, they pumped a lot of money into this former astronaut to transform him, but the end results were definitely worth it.

Today’s headlines show that with the budget deal now in place, Mr. Obama has become the $20 trillion man:  doubling the national debt under his leadership.  To be fair, of course he came in during a time of economic crisis.  Just as in the fictional TV show, the plane had crashed, and–in Mr. Obama’s mind–needed drastic surgery to save the patient.  We were promised robust job growth and an economy back on track, if we followed Mr. Obama’s plan.  Yet here we are, stuck in the “new-normal” of ~2.0-2.5% growth, and the national debt scheduled to double as Mr. Obama leaves.  Mr. Obama claims to care about job growth, but in every case where he could stimulate private sector job growth, he resists.  Keystone Pipeline was officially put on hold today by the Canadians because of his intransigence, and Mr. Obama’s EPA continues to issue punishing regulations without cost-benefit analysis demonstrating its value, despite the Supreme Court giving it 9-0 smackdowns.

Mr. Obama’s supporters will claim that he inherited this problem, yet the spending growth has continued throughout his two-terms, with Mr. Obama strong-arming his way to additional spending.  In the latest battle, Mr. Obama vetoed the national defense bill, saying he wouldn’t allow for additional war spending (which he agrees we need), unless he could break the sequester caps for domestic spending.  Maybe you agree with Mr. Obama, that all this spending is worth it.

“This agreement will strengthen the middle class by investing in education, job training, and basic research,” Mr. Obama said. “It will keep us safe by investing in our national security. It protects our seniors by avoiding harmful cuts to Medicare and Social Security. It locks in two years of funding and should help break the cycle of shutdowns and manufactured crises that have harmed our economy.”

Or maybe you don’t.  Yes, Mr. Obama, these are manufactured crises.  The question is, who’s doing the manufacturing?

The U.S. economy. A patient barely alive.  Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the technology. We have the capability to give the U.S. its first European government. Barack Obama will be that man. He’ll make us better than we were before. Better…stronger…fairer.”  This television series is scheduled to end next year.  Will we see an extension?  You the viewer get to decide.