Several pundits over at The Atlantic have zeroed in on the president's promise to fund his health care reforms by "reducing the waste and inefficency in Medicare and Medicaid."  As Megan McArdle points out, politicians have been riding this tired old mare for years--and the supposed savings never seem to materialize.  But if Obama wants to show that he's a new kind of president, how about this: instead of proposing a program to be paid for by eliminating "waste and efficiency" that he apparently already knows about, why not simply cut said "waste and efficiency right now--which would presumably be a good idea in any case, right?--and once we see just how much revenue results, design a program to fit that budget?