"the problem with spending freezes is it using a hatchet where you should use a scalpel"

A really smart guy admonishes John McCain when he suggests a spending freeze on everything but DOD, VA, entitlements, and few other vital programs.

Later he calls an across the board freeze as an unfair burden.
Third clip he talks about how good programs will be left behind in across the board spending freeze.
Lastly says idea of "across the board spending freeze" is brought up from time to time and doesn't work.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/01/26/obama_campaigned_against_spending_freeze.html

I mean John McCain was PRO spending freeze and Obama took him to task over that position.
He careful explains how it is a stupid and careless idea often only expressed to score political points while putting an unfair burden on some.

However now "magically" it is a good idea just because the roles are reversed?

This Administration would be comical if people weren't dying.

--Second, a little background on freeze-eology: there are two ways to do a freeze like this: (1) an across-the-board freeze on every program outside of national security; and (2) a surgical approach where overall totals are frozen but some individual programs go up and others go down. In short, a hatchet versus a scalpel.

During the campaign, you may recall that John McCain touted option 1 – the hatchet approach of an across-the-board freeze.

The President was critical of that approach then, and we would be critical of it now. It’s not what we’re proposing. To the contrary, the entire theory of the President’s proposed freeze is to dial up the stuff that will support job growth and innovation while dialing down the stuff that doesn’t. Under our plan, some discretionary spending will go up; some will go down. That’s a big difference from a hatchet.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/01/26/putting-hatchets-vs-scapels-debate-about-budget-freeze-ice

between the two approaches. You did a much better job of explaining it than Bernstein did on Rachel's show last night.