We learned during the Reagan administration that making a deal to cut spending is very tough. Reagan was trying to get spending cuts and make deals for tax increases.
The Spending cuts never came to the scale they should have.
Clinton used a very convienient boom time to raise taxes , which represents a massive missed oppurtunity. If spending had been reduced then the deficit might have been substantially reduced. What Clinton did was mark time while the boom came and went.
Bush number one, or 41 as you might count, learned the hard way that promises can be remembered. Obama needs us to forget a few promises .
Bush number two, or president number 43 , had a war to fight , so there was little oppurtunity to cut spending.
Does anyone remember the "peace dividend"?
Our military is more than 30% reducecd since 1989 , this era is over , the peace dividend has come and gone , the tech boom that came and went at the same time isn't comeing back either.
I my opinion history will call these years a lost oppurtunity.