Bush Goal on Deficit Draws Skepticism By ALAN FRAM

President Bush’s goal of cutting in half a projected $500 billion federal deficit within five years is being dismissed as too timid by conservatives, unachievable by analysts and laughable by Democrats. …

The goal is backed by many Republicans, but conservatives want a bolder move against the record deficits and big spending increases the administration has run up.

”It’s a rather anemic goal, actually,” said Stephen Moore, president of the conservative Club for Growth. ”We should be talking about how to balance the budget.” …

”Given the current makeup of Congress and the incumbent in the White House,” halving the red ink in half is ”fanciful,” said Robert Reischauer, former Congressional Budget Office director and president of the Urban Institute.

They also say Bush’s goal distracts from the country’s real budgetary crisis: the crunch that will occur at decade’s end when the aging baby boom generation begins relying on Social Security, Medicare and other programs.

”The smokescreen here is the short-term deficit,” said Robert Bixby, executive director of the bipartisan Concord Coalition, which lobbies for balanced budgets.