From Carrie Dann and Shawna Thomas, both people who can’t resist a chance to relate politics to pop culture:

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The White House’s foes have taken pains to describe today’s remarks by President Barack Obama’s remarks as a “redo” or a “do-over” by a leader under mounting pressure to more squarely address the nation’s deficit.

They’ve even gone a little Hollywood.

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy referred to president’s previously unveiled budget as a “bomb,” dubbing his speech at George Washington University on Wednesday “a sequel.”  

“As many of you know,” McCarthy said, “being a sequel, none of them are better than the original and the original failed.”

While, we at First Read are pretty sure that McCarthy didn’t mean to distract us from the important issues at hand (FY11 spending, debt ceiling, budget, women’s health) at hand, his assertion got us thinking about Hollywood’s great Take Twos.

Low hanging fruit: Godfather II and The Empire Strikes Back – both commonly in contention for the prize of best sequel ever made.  

And what about Terminator 2?   Linda Hamilton may have been grating the first movie, but who wasn’t considering building an arsenal in their basement by the end of the second one.  You, know, just in case. (plus, those arms!)

For the kids, there’s also the Toy Story franchise, which at its zenith achieved best-picture-nod status.

As for politics, one could say Sen. John McCain’s second presidential bid, which ended in a loss for the presidency but a win of the nomination, was a much more dramatic sequel to his hard-fought but failed role as George W. Bush’s nemesis in 2000.

Plus, the second McCain campaign introduced to America a character every bit as compelling as Luke Skywalker, Michael Corleone, and all the Indiana Jones chicks combined: Sarah Palin.