The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.

Questions Nobody Is Asking

  • “Does President Obama Really Believe in Deficit Reduction?”–headline, Time.com, Feb. 13
  • “Where’s Steve Kroft When You Need Him?”–headline, Commentary website, Feb. 13

News of the Oxymoronic

  • “Obama Orders Voluntary Security Standards for Critical Industries’ Computer Networks”–headline, Washington Post, Feb. 13
  • “Obama to Push Egalitarianism, Meritocracy in Speech to Nation”–headline, TheHill.com, Feb. 12

Bottom Stories of the Day

  • “Same Old, Same Old From Obama: Column”–headline, USA Today, Feb. 13
  • “Obama SOTU Address: President Says GOP Should Back His Plans “–headline, Puffington Host, Feb. 12
  • “FACT CHECK: Overreaching in State of Union Speech”–headline, Associated Press, Feb. 13
  • “Obama’s State of the Union: 6,419 Words and Almost as Many Cliches”–headline, Investor’s Business Daily website, Feb. 13
  • “Local Leaders’ Thoughts on President Obama’s Address Split Down Party Lines”–headline,Democrat and Chronicle website (Rochester, N.Y.), Feb. 13
  • “Obama’s ‘Bipartisan’ State of the Union Paints Republicans as Anti-Science, Job-Hating Neanderthals”–headline, Daily Telegraph, Feb. 13
  • “State of the Union Reaction: Media Gives Obama Thumbs Up”–headline, Politico.com, Feb. 12

‘A Paying-For Problem’
Here’s some crystal-clear Washingtonian thinking from Steny Hoyer, the House Democratic whip, in an interview with CNBC’s Michelle Caruso-Cabrera:

Caruso-Cabrera: Does the country have a spending problem sir? Does the country have a spending problem?

Hoyer: Does the country have a spending problem? The country has a paying for problem. We haven’t paid for what we bought, we haven’t paid for our tax cuts, we haven’t paid for war.

Caruso-Cabrera: How about what we promised? Are we promising too much?

Hoyer: Absolutely. If we don’t pay, we shouldn’t buy.

Caruso-Cabrera: So how is that different than a spending problem?

Hoyer: Well, we spent a lot of money when George Bush was president of the United States in the House and Senate were controlled by Republicans. We spent a lot of money.

Note how, when Caruso-Cabrera defeats Hoyer’s attempt to evade acknowledgingthe problem, he shifts to evading responsibility for the problem. Of course if the problem were simply that Republicans spend too much, Hoyer could have said the spending problem was solved when Democrats won Congress in 2006 and the presidency in 2008. In reality, both parties spend too much, which is to say that the answer to Caruso-Cabrera’s original question is affirmative: The country has a spending problem.

For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”