When You Have No Idea What to Do

The Associated Press: Obama promotes fiscal restraint, big spending: "WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama wants to project fiscal restraint even as his economic team assembles a massive recovery package that could cost several hundred billion dollars.
A day after introducing the captains of his economic team and promoting a giant jobs plan, Obama on Tuesday was to lay out his budget belt-tightening vision. The dual images — big spender and disciplined budget watcher — were designed to give both political and economic assurances to the public, the Congress and the financial markets."

Because nothing inspires confidence quite like the simultaneous pursuit of diametrically opposed objectives. It's kind of like the way the PLO leaders say one thing in English and the opposite in Arabic, but in this case both audiences have to be addressed in English. You might think that would make it more difficult.