Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Situational ethics and the debt limit
This would be hilarious if it were not so typical of our president:
The White House said Monday that President Barack Obama regrets his vote as a senator in 2006 against raising the debt limit — the same kind of increase he's now pressuring Congress to approve.
But it is not just that he regrets it. Barack Obama is asking that we do not believe the argument that he himself made so persuasively less than five years ago:
Congress is forced to increase the debt limit every several years and it often turns political with members of the minority party withholding their votes to extract concessions or direct criticism at the party that controls the White House.
That was the case in 2006 when Republican George W. Bush was president and Obama, a freshman senator from Illinois, declared on the Senate floor: "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. ... Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that 'the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem."
Not only was he fooling the people who voted for him, he was fooling himself.
8 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Apr 12, 07:47:00 AM:
Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren.
Racist Teabagger! Government-hater! Extremist!!!
By sirius, at
Tue Apr 12, 09:08:00 AM:
"Not only was he fooling the people who voted for him, he was fooling himself."
Was?
But I see what you're saying... he's not fooling nearly as many now as before.
By , at
Tue Apr 12, 09:38:00 AM:
You expect stupidity from the Kenyan. What would be more interesting would be a review of the comments of others in 2006 contrasted silence of today. Didn't some of the heavyweights of original thought jump on this issue in 2006? What did Chrissy, Roseanne, Fonda, the Dixie Chicks, etc. say about this in 2006?
One of the few beauties of today is the absolute silence from the useful idiots every time the Kenyan says/does something stupid, mendacious or wrong. Whatever happened to Code Pink?
By Custom Lapel Pins, at
Tue Apr 12, 03:53:00 PM:
I too would like to hear what Chrissy, Roseanne, Fonda, the Dixie Chicks, etc. have to say this time around. Easy to throw rocks at glass houses when your on the outside looking in...
By , at
Tue Apr 12, 07:22:00 PM:
My disgust for this politically posturing poser knows no bounds. Worst President ever. I would say he sucked as our IL Senator too but truthfully he got an Incomplete since he was too bored to do his job and started running for President immediately, the calculus for which explains his comment then and flip flop now. Absolutely disgusting.
By , at
Wed Apr 13, 04:12:00 PM:
Ignoramus:
With Obama's Deficit Buster speech today, I hit on all my drinking games words. Pretty easy actually: "balanced" "fairness" "shared sacrifice"
Little surprise in Obama's speech. On the surface it was all post-partisan rhetoric, underneath it was all political calculation.
As expected Obama is setting up Republicans as the meanies who want to make entitlement cuts, paid for with Bush tax cuts for the rich.
Obama is not totally innumerate. He included a reference to Ryan's proposed cuts on 33 seniors equating to the Bush tax cuts for one average rich guy. The man can count votes.
Obama sounded quite reasonable, so long as (1) you believe things like " ... Already, the reforms we passed in [ObamaCare] will reduce our deficit by $1 trillion", and (2) you ignore inconvenient facts like "we could double the personal income tax on everyone and still not close the gap we already have." Seriously, what good will Obama's proposals like phasing out the mortgage interest deduction for high earners do, given our current predicament. Lost in all this is how we get government out of the way of private sector growth.
So Obama's response to the Ryan plan is "not while I'm President !!" So we have no chance of even starting to address the deficit in 2011. I doubt that the Republicans have the balls to not raise the debt ceiling indefinitely.
So unless we have some unexpected End of Days event, the 2012 election will be a referendum on this. If you take out the Carter years of 1978 to 1980, fifty years of post WWII American politics says that Obama will win this referendum. Pick your Republican nominee with this in mind.
But can Bernanke keep 20 plates spinning on sticks into late 2012? I for one do not, and expect early 2012 to be worse than 1979. Developing ...
By , at
Thu Apr 14, 10:15:00 AM:
"Hit all my drinking game words..."
The one I always bet on is "Let me be perfectly clear..." This always followed by a fuzzy lie.
By , at
Sun Apr 17, 08:47:00 PM:
UN PRESIDENT TIM KALEMKARIAN, US PRESIDENT TIM KALEMKARIAN, US SENATE TIM KALEMKARIAN, US HOUSE TIM KALEMKARIAN: BEST MAJOR CANDIDATE.
