The president so adept at capitalizing on every crisis has called the “Republican” sequestration a “manufactured crisis” – a crisis, by the way, that was his idea. Barack Obama will present his proposed budget to Congress Monday. In it, he attempts to undo the gains made in cutting spending growth. Yet in a Huffington Post blog entry, the president wrote, “I’m proud that since I took office, we’ve experienced the fastest period of sustained deficit reduction since the end of World War II. … Of course, to make these common-sense investments in our future without adding to our deficits, we need to turn the page on the manufactured crises that have defined the debates over our budget in recent years.” As usual, Obama doesn’t tell the complete truth. The deficit quadrupled during Obama’s first months in office and he has spent six years paring it down. Even now, the deficit is higher than pre-Obama levels. And that’s just enough for Obama to create a manufactured breakthrough. More…