"Mitch Daniels Had A Budget Forecast To Meet"

by Patrick Appel

Douthat's column yesterday called talked up Mitch Daniels as possible presidential contender. Chait has also had kind things to say about him. George Packer spots a rather major weakness:

Daniels was Bush’s head of the Office of Management and Budget from 2001-2003 (what happened to the surplus inherited from Bill Clinton during those years is a separate story). He was responsible for forecasting the budget in the event of a war with Iraq. His number came in at fifty to sixty billion dollars.