Fox News Sunday Checks Out Daniels

Although Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace billed Gov. Mitch Daniels as one of the prime contenders for president in 2012 during an appearance on the show this morning, Daniels insists he remains focused on his work as Indiana governor and has no current plans to run for president, noting he has turned down many invitations to speak in places like Iowa and New Hampshire, early testing grounds for a national campaign. Wallace opened his questioning of Daniels by noting Indiana has added 46,000 new jobs this year--nearly three times the rate of national job growth and ended the most recent fiscal year with an $830 million surplus.

Daniels told Wallace spending is the number one issue. He said the state was facing bankruptcy when he took office and he's done the things necessary to control government spending, actually bringing down per capita spending during the time he has been governor. He says he has brought about these spending restraints without compromising services, which he describes as being better, not worse. I'm not sure Indiana's unemployed or welfare recipients will agree that the state is doing a better job delivering those services in light of a plethora of recent damaging state news reports on both.

Wallace hit Daniels on his record as OMB Director for President George W. Bush. You inherited a $236 billion surplus from Clinton Wallace said but left three years later with a $400 billion deficit. Daniels blamed the deficit spending on the recession following the 9/11 attacks without mentioning the costs of the Iraq War, which he pegged at the time as being about $50 billion dollar. Nearly $1 trillion has been spent on that war over the last decade.

Daniels defended the Bush tax cuts, which are set to expire this year. "Why raise taxes in the middle of a recession?" he asked. He said we need a national policy that encourages investment. Instead of more federal stimulus spending, he said we need an "emergency program to encourage investment." He suggested placing a moratorium on government regulations or speeding up government approvals to kick start the economy. He thinks the president needs impoundment authority similar to what he has in Indiana to reduce out-of-control federal spending.

Daniels told Wallace he believes federal entitlement programs like social security and Medicare must be fundamentally changed. Means testing and raising eligibility ages were two suggestions he made for cutting the costs of those programs, ideas that may not sit well with many hard-working Americans who have made maximum contributions to support those systems all of their lives only to be told in retirement they won't get anything in return as had been promised to them their entire working lives regardless of their station in life.

Wallace tried unsuccessfully to bait Daniels regarding his 2012 presidential ambitions. He insisted he has no plans to start raising money or otherwise organizing a presidential campaign. He said he is entirely focused on his job as governor of Indiana. That's not to say he isn't talking about national issues though. He insisted the country must face the "Republic threatening dimension" of our current fiscal policies. At one point, Daniels likened the onerous national debt to child abuse.

On an image note, Daniels wore a particularly bland looking, long-sleeved oxford shirt sans tie for his appearance this morning.