Today the Treasury Department announced that for the first time in the nation’s history, the United States federal deficit has reached $1 trillion.  The milestone is a significant one, as the US government is only nine months into its fiscal year.  Only now are the costs of the Obama administration’s first 100 days starting to add up to headlines, leaving Republicans their first real opportunity to attack the president’s agenda.

But it seems in the buzz surrounding Sotomayor’s confirmation, the Cheney-sponsored secret CIA program kept from Congress, and the coming fight on health care reform, it seems the GOP letting a strike sail by.  Though this week’s Meet The Press focused more on Palin-mania that the pressing federal debt, Sen. John McCain was on to speak about the budget shortfall but largely fumbled through the question of debt.

We are committing generational theft.  Just last week, the, the estimate of the deficit was $1.1 trillion just for the first nine months.  It’s going to be $1.8 trillion. That’s, by a factor of two, the highest in anytime in peacetime history.  I mean, we are spending and spending and spending.

McCain’s statement is indicative of the bubble of misconception to which today’s GOP retreats.  First, McCain repeats the talking point that has been pulled from most Republican memos highlighting the Obama’s year-over-year increase of deficit.  While the 2x multiplier is shocking, GOP strategists shoot themselves in the foot with the comparison to peacetime budgets.  This is not a peacetime budget – remember the two wars you got us into, fellas?  Democrats don’t need another opening to remind the public why this budget – the first to include the spending on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars – is bigger than more peaceful and prosperous time (like the Clinton administration).

Second, Republicans have lost all credulity using “spending” as a sound bite ingredient. Phrases like “wasteful Washington pork” and “our children have to cover the bill” don’t work for the crew with whom cavalier programs like Middle Eastern wars and tax cuts for the wealthy remain popular association.  They need to toss the Reagan playbooks they all dusted off after last November.

This is a different time that required different language.  Barack Obama and the Democratic supermajority now own the economy – that’s the real Achilles’ heel.  For Republicans to exploit effectively the issue of debt, it must be tied to economic performance.  Enumerating wasteful projects is one of John McCain’s favorite public relations ploys, but this is far less effective that tying them to the economic indicators.

The associations are powerful.  We’ve spent how much stimulus money (only 10%) and have seen how many jobs disappear (3.4 million)?  We passed a $780 billion package on the promise of anemic GDP growth (3%), but the truth is more recession (-1-2%)?  How much have we spent bailing out GM (employer of < 250,000) and how much have we spent helping small business (employer of > 50 million)?

Republicans are wise to make hay of Obama’s debt weakness, but they had better trade in their pitchforks.  The old language of Republican opposition lost its traction two wars ago.

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