Obama's spending plan is so timid, he must be working on a smarter plan we don't know about.

If secret negotiations aren't in the plan or already under way, we're all sunk. There isn't much time before the 2012 presidential race makes deal-making impossible. In the last three weeks, a senior ambassador of a U.S. ally, McConnell, and a senior White House official have all mentioned six to eight months as the time frame before presidential politics interfere with doing anything bold on domestic or foreign issues. With that kind of time pressure, someone must be working on a behind-the-scenes deal. If not, the predictable spat that played out today was an even bigger waste of time than usual.

Also in Slate, Fred Kaplan lays out even more potential cuts to the Pentagon budget. Timothy Noah explains why the GOP favors such inconsequential discretionary cuts. David Weigel reports on Republican Paul Ryan's critique of the White House budget. Annie Lowrey describes how your household budget would look if you spent money like the federal government.

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