If you will look at the Government figures of GDP over the years starting in 1930 at: Historical Tables of Budget you will see that our GDP today is much higher and the surplus at a lower pecentage than in the 80's.
For example, I looked at three different years below (in billions):
1983 -- GDP: 3,440.5 with a -6.0 deficit
1993 -- GDP: 6,558.4 with a -3.9 deficit
2003 (projected) -- GDP: 10,756.8 with a -2.8 deficit
Now you can take a percentage and you will find out that today's budget of President Bush doesn't come anywhere close to the deficit percentage wise of the GDP in 1983 or in 1993.
That is why when someone compares budget numbers, you have to take into consideration the GDP and percentage of the deficit. There are dollars wasted in the budget for programs that are not my first choice, but there is also the pork added in Congress for districts in order to get their votes.
All in all, I do not think that the deficit is or should be a #1 priority. All that happens when the deficit goes away is that more money is available to Congress to spend even more. Tax Cuts at least give them less to play with. Did you see a major tax cut when there was no deficit in the 1990's?