The New York Times reports:

President Obama is running into stiff Congressional resistance to his plans to raise money for his ambitious agenda, and the resulting hole in the budget is threatening a major health care overhaul and other policy initiatives.

The administration’s central revenue proposal — limiting the value of affluent Americans’ itemized deductions, including the one for charitable giving — fell flat in Congress, leaving the White House, at least for now, without $318 billion that it wants to set aside to help cover uninsured Americans. At the same time, lawmakers of both parties have warned against moving too quickly on a plan to auction carbon emission permits to produce more than $600 billion.

Well, it seems the administration is stumped. Who knew there would be a limit to the amount Congress would be willing to tax and spend? The Congress — Democrats included — are getting nervous about raising taxes to pay for a huge new domestic agenda. When  Sen. Kent Conrad cautions that we are talking about “hundreds of billions” for healthcare, one senses that there is perhaps greater distance between the Congress and the White House on spending than between the Congress and all those tea party protesters. Maybe the fact that 435 congressmen and one third of the Senate must face the public in less than two years has the legislators’ enthusiasm for another round of spending (and the required tax hikes) running thin.

So you can understand the White House’s peevish reaction to the “unhealthy” tea parties. Yes, they may be contagious. And worse, the sentiment in favor of fiscal sobriety so clearly expressed by those in attendance may spell an early demise to the Obama agenda.