No, I think this is the current DNC strategy. I'm hearing complaints about excessive spending from known tax and spend democrats. Go figure. In other words, "Get out of the Whitehouse so we can spend the tax payers' money for our own agenda." They all know that, FDR used spending as a tool to alleviate unemployment and consumer lack of confidence. They would be spending like mad now if they were in the Whitehouse and in charge of congress. The spending would be a multiple of what it is now.
Democrats: defense, space, and anti-communist/anti-jihad foreign aid are going to "break the taxpayers' backs" now. Strategy: Their strategy: divide and conquer the base.
Keynesian economics seems to be Bush's basic approach, and Reagan used it as well. It's so... bipartisan. Too bad the democrats can't suggest something constructive.
Of course hardened conservatives will not be happy, but are they going to vote for Lyndon LaRouche or Howard Dean instead? I think not. Furthermore, with programs like space exploration and missile defense finally getting the attention they deserve (anyone wonder how the Internet was created?) some long-neglected priorities are being replenished. That sort of change is going to cost us in the short term. Think of it as an investment in America's future. The planet will thank us later.
Note to California Governor Schwarzenegger: nobody has the illusion that spending at the state government level works the same way. Other than, er, well, um by BOND LEVIES that nobody wants, left right or center. Ahem. I wish Arnold would listen to Tom McClintock on that issue, but I digress.