Barack Obama had a hole, E-I-E-I-O

By Evan Newmark

Isn’t the first rule of politics, “when you’re in a hole, stop digging?”

Somebody should remind the president, because he still is digging awfully fast.

In five months, President Obama has delivered a massive economic program–a $3.5 trillion budget, a $787 billion stimulus package, a $75 billion housing plan and a $100 billion takeover of the U.S. auto industry.

None of these programs is working as advertised. That is why the budget deficit is soaring, interest rates are climbing and oil today hit $71 a barrel, its 2009 high. The markets are jittery that the economy will have too much inflation and not enough growth.

Mr. Obama may think that with time it will all come right. But what if he’s wrong? What if the president gets only one chance to change the course of his economic policy–to stop digging before the hole is too deep?

And what if that time is now for Mr. Obama?

Mean Street: Mr. Obama’s Got Himself a Hole