Well, not really.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal deficit has already been reduced by a significant margin for fiscal 2011 which ends two months from now.
(Reuters) - The U.S. government recorded a $1.1 trillion deficit during the first 10 months of the fiscal year even though revenues have increased more than spending, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said on Friday.
In its budget statement for July, the CBO said the deficit so far this year is about $66 billion less than the previous year. Government spending is up about 3 percent while revenues are 8 percent higher for the fiscal year, which began October 1. [...]
The U.S. deficit for July was $132 billion, some $33 billion less than the monthly shortfall a year ago.
If the federal deficit is $66 billion less this year than the previous fiscal year, that means the year-to-year deficit has been reduced by $186 billion dollars since President Obama took office. The deficit was reduced by $120 billion in fiscal 2010, the first fiscal budget to be signed into law by the Obama Administration. The Bush Administration presided over the fiscal 2009 budget.
Very little of the latest reduction is a result of recent budget cuts.
Budget cuts signed into law during the previous round of Republican brinkmanship over the remainder of fiscal 2011 will take place over a 10 year period, with only $350 million occurring during this fiscal year. Additional budget cuts signed into law this week in the Budget Control Act will also take place over a 10 year period and will not come into effect until 2013.
To make a long story short - this is the result of actually being fiscally responsible, in every sense of the word, rather than simply claiming you are.
Of course this won't prevent the Republicans from trotting out the "out of control spending!" meme, nor will it give our very serious media pause when considering whether or not they should question that meme.