When Barack Obama was a junior Senator and the Republicans were in charge there was a vote on raising the debt ceiling and he voted against it. The White House issued a statement today stating that Obama regrets his vote. He is now saying that it was a mistake because raising the debt ceiling is important to the economy.
I am not buying that. Obama now needs the debt ceiling raised because we will soon hit our limit and he wants a higher line of credit so he can continue to spend rather than cutting and living within our means. While I believe that it is a fact that Obama is now saying he regrets his vote because he now wants what he once opposed I believe that it runs much deeper than that.
Obama actually regrets the words he used when he he voted against raising the debt ceiling. He said that doing so represented a lack of leadership and that we should live within our means rather than passing debt on to our children and grandchildren.
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.” Yahoo News
Obama was absolutely correct when he made those statements and they more closely align him with the thinking of the Tea Party that he has maligned. The Tea Party is derided for these beliefs by Democrats who thought Obama was a genius when he made such proclamations. America does have a debt problem and raising the debt ceiling will do nothing to solve that problem. It did not solve it any other time that it has been raised. It only allowed Congress to keep spending more money with little or no regard to the burden it placed on our children and grandchildren.
Obama’s real regret is that he said those things which can now be used against him when he pushes for the very thing he once opposed.
How will Democrats reconcile the words of Obama in 2006 with his and their desire to raise the limit now? How will they respond to the obvious contradiction?
I imagine they will blame it on George Bush. After all, Obama was directing those comments to him back in 2006. That kind of rhetoric helped Democrats take control later that year and they were happy to spew it every chance they got. In addition to Obama, Reid, Pelosi (and many other Democrats) were also against raising the debt ceiling.
To be fair, the Republicans wanted to raise the limit then but are opposed now. Funny how the more things change the more they stay the same.
Now, of course, the Democrats are begging for it to be raised without condition.
That is not going to happen. I think that the debt ceiling should not be raised but I am willing to go for an increase if the complete repeal of Obamacare is absolutely tied to the increase with no caveats whatsoever. I would even throw in the defunding of Planned Parenthood and NPR for good measure. While we are at it, we could add a ton of cuts to the measure in order to ensure we get our fiscal house in order.
Obama cannot oppose any cut attached to the debt ceiling increase because, in his own words, America has a debt problem.
How can he ask for a higher debt limit without measures to cut the very debt he derided five short years ago (and one that was much smaller)?
It looks like Barack Obama was an early Tea Party supporter whether he realized it or not.
And that is probably something he regrets as well.
By his own account, Barack Obama is a failure of leadership.
Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
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