Vegas deals Obama out

It should have been a safe bet that President Barack Obama would be careful not to re-offend Las Vegans. Only it wasn't: Our nation's leader has again riled up the folks in the nation's gambling capital.

Last week in Nashua, N.H., the president used this "responsible families" example to stress the need for federal frugality during these hard times: "You don't blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you're trying to save for college."

But times -- and feelings toward the president -- are hard in Glitter Gulch, too. A year ago, he stirred outrage throughout Nevada, which he carried in 2008, by aiming this warning at tycoons taking federal bailout billions: "You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer's dime."

And you can't expect Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, a Democrat, to take kindly to the president's latest slight to his city. The mayor warned last week: "An apology won't be acceptable this time. I want to assure you when he comes I will do everything I can to give him the boot back to Washington and to visit his failures back there." He added: "This president is a real slow learner."

Even Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., issued this stern admonition: "The president needs to lay off Las Vegas and stop making it the poster child for where people shouldn't be spending their money."

President Obama, in a letter of response to Sen. Reid, hailed Las Vegas as "one of our country's great destinations" and insisted that "I wasn't saying anything negative" about it.

Yet it's a sure thing that Mayor Goodman, Sen. Reid and plenty of other Nevadans understandably deem "you don't blow a bunch of cash in Vegas ..." as something negative.

Another sure thing: When it comes to gambling, Vegas' highest rollers are penny-ante players compared to the man who wants to let our nation's fiscal future ride on a $3.8 trillion budget -- with a projected $1.6 trillion deficit.