Obama's discussion of his budget is an example of "figures don't lie, but liars figure." Obama says he will cut the deficit in half in eight years. He forgot to mention that he tripled it his first year, so it will still be 50% larger (by his numbers) than it was in 2008. (Keep in mind that, unlike the usual practice, the 2009 budget is Obama's because the Democratic Congress refused to pass a full year budget for the lame duck Bush.) The CBO sees Obama's budget in the out years a bit differently than he does.