Election aftermath: Obama and Congress to focus anew on the deficit

Which is good and bad. Bad, because when the economy is on life support you don't cut spending. And bad because this buys into the GOP talking point that spending is out of control. It's not, generally speaking. The wars were out of control, to the tune of $1 trillion to date. George Bush's tax cuts were out of control, to the tune of several trillion dollars. The bailouts and the stimulus, however, were not out of control - they were necessary in order to avoid another Great Depression. People were rightfully ticked because of the way they were handled (e.g., bonuses), and many didn't believe the spending was necessary because Democrats didn't defend their actions in the face of withering attacks by Republicans.

Why not simply tell the American people the truth about how the money was wasted in the past by Bush, and why it's being spent now by Obama?