The Hypocrisy Of Barack Obama And Democrats On Raising The Debt Ceiling Is Nothing Short Of Stunning

Old & Busted:

‘I rise today to talk about America’s debt problem.

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. Over the past 5 years, our federal debt has increased by $3.5 trillion to $8.6 trillion. That is ‘‘trillion’’ with a ‘‘T.’’ That is money that we have borrowed from the Social Security trust fund, borrowed from China and Japan, borrowed from American taxpayers. And over the next 5 years, between now and 2011, the President’s budget will increase the debt by almost another $3.5 trillion.

Numbers that large are sometimes hard to understand. Some people may wonder why they matter. Here is why: This year, the Federal Government will spend $220 billion on interest. That is more money to pay interest on our national debt than we’ll spend on Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. That is more money to pay interest on our debt this year than we will spend on education, homeland security, transportation, and veterans benefits combined. It is more money in one year than we are likely to spend to rebuild the devastated gulf coast in a way that honors the best of America.

And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the Federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and States of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on.

Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to investment in America’s priorities. Instead, interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans—a debt tax that Washington doesn’t want to talk about. If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies.

… 

Our debt also matters internationally. My friend, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, likes to remind us that it took 42 Presidents 224 years to run up only $1 trillion of foreign-held debt. This administration did more than that in just 5 years. Now, there is nothing wrong with borrowing from foreign countries. But we must remember thatthe more we depend on foreign nations to lend us money, the more our economic security is tied to the whims of foreign leaders whose interests might not be aligned with ours.

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 and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.’

- Senator Barack Obama, (D-IL), floor of the Senate, 16 March 2006

New Hotness:

‘Now, this debt ceiling — I just want to remind people in case you haven’t been keeping up — RAISING THE DEBT CEILING, WHICH HAS BEEN DONE OVER A HUNDRED TIMES, DOES NOT INCREASE OUR DEBT; it does not somehow promote profligacy. All it does is it says you got to pay the bills that you’ve already racked up, Congress. It’s a basic function of making sure that the full faith and credit of the United States is preserved. It’s always a tough vote because THE AVERAGE PERSON THINKS RAISING THE DEBT CEILING MUST MEAN THAT WE’RE RUNNING UP OUR DEBT, so people don’t like to vote on it, and, typically, there’s SOME GAMESMANSHIP IN TERMS OF MAKING THE PRESIDENT’S PARTY SHOULDER THE BURDEN of raising the — taking the vote.’

- President Obama, Remarks at the Business Roundtable, 09.18.13

Barack Obama and his Democratic colleagues have long been massive hypocrites on the subject of debt and the debt ceiling.

Obama’s decision not to raise the debt ceiling wasn’t just a symbolic vote without a possible cost either. In their attempt to ‘make a point’ about Bush’s spending and borrowing, which were too high for me, but were Scrooge-like in comparison to President Obama’s sheer gluttony, Democrats came just three votes shy from defeating the debt ceiling increase sought by Bush. F*ck Full Faith & Credit and defaulting on our country’s credit! ‘Politics, games, finding a way to raise the debt limit to take some serious steps to get our fiscal house in order’ only became a pressing matter later on, as we shall see.

Senator Obama wasn’t the only Democrat that said, ‘Nyet, no more rubles for you!’ Oh, no, senior statesmen and women, who are bemoaning the ‘irresponsible resistance’ to raising the debt ceiling now, voted not to do so when, well, it was different, you see, because Bush. 

‘If my Republican friends believe that increasing our debt by almost $800 billion today and more than $3 trillion over the last five years is the right thing to do, they should be upfront about it. They should explain why they think more debt is good for the economy.

How can the Republican majority in this Congress explain to their constituents that trillions of dollars in new debt is good for our economy? How can they explain that they think it’s fair to force our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren to finance this debt through higher taxes. That’s what it will have to be. Why is it right to increase our nation’s dependence on foreign creditors? 

They should explain this. Maybe they can convince the public they’re right. I doubt it. Because most Americans know that increasing debt is the last thing we should be doing. After all, I repeat, the Baby Boomers are about to retire. Under the circumstances, any credible economist would tell you we should be reducing debt, not increasing it.  Democrats won’t be making argument to supper this legalization, which will weaken our country. Weaken our county.’ 

- Senator Harry Reid, 2006

Who else joined Obama and Reid in acting ‘irresponsibly’ and ‘jeopardising our Full Faith & Credit and defaulting upon our obligations?

Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI)

Senator Max Baucus (D-MT)

Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN)

Senator Joseph R Biden (D-DE)

Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)

Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV)

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA)

Senator Tom Carper (D-DE)

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)

Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND)

Senator Mark Dayton (D-MN)

Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT)

Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND)

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI)

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA)

Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI)

Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT)

Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD)

 

Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA)

Senator John Kerry (D-MA)

Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI)

Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)

Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT)

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI)

Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT)

Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)

Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ)

Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)

Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)

Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL)

Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE)

Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR)

Senator Jack Reed (D-RI)

Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)

Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO)

Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) 

'The responsibility of Congress to pay the bills of the United States, bills that Congress has incurred, is not a subject of negotiation.'

- White House spokesman Jay Carney, 09.25.11

'The president's not going to accept that proposition. He's just not. We will not negotiate over Congress' responsibility to pay the bills that Congress racked up.'

- White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, 25 September 2013

'Our very strong view is that the debt limit should be passed as a clean, standalone bill.'

-Treasury Secretary Jack Lew in an interview with Bloomberg TV's 'Political Capital With Al Hunt.'

 

 'This is not a deadbeat nation. We don't run out on our tab...even the threat of not raising the debt ceiling the height of irresponsibility.  All it says is, you gotta pay for what Congress already said we're spending money on, if you don't do it, we could have another financial crisis.

I will not negotiate on anything when it comes to the full faith and credit of the United States of America.  I demand a clean CR and a debt vote.

Congress needs to pay out bills on time. Congress needs to pass a budget on time. Congress needs to put an end to governing from crisis to crisis. Our focus as a country should be on creating new jobs and growing our economy and helping young people learn, and restoring security for hard-working middle-class families.'

- President Barack Obama, 26 September 2013

I remember when then-Senator Barack Obama said this as he was campaigning for President… 

‘The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents – #43 added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That’s irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic.’

– Senator Barack Obama, Fargo, North Dakota, 3 July 2008

In 2011, President Obama’s Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, said:

‘It is important for Congress not to play politics, not to play games, to find a way to raise that debt limit, understand that we are going to have to take some serious steps to get our fiscal house in order.’

Well, to all of the above, I say this:

‘The problem is that the way Obama has done it in the last 1,702 days is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $10,628,881,485,510.23 from the first 43 presidents to $16,738,444,833,206.

No. 44 has added $6,111,567,784,293 by his lonesome. So we now have over $16,738,444,833,206 of debt that we are going to have to pay back. $53,995.17 for every man, woman, and child.

If President Obama called President George W Bush irresponsible and unpatriotic for presiding over a $4,901,104,747,205.59 increase in the national debt over 8 years, then what does he think we should call him for spending $6,111,567,784,293 in 1,711 days?

Irresponsible and unpatriotic’ sound too mild in comparison; perhaps, ‘treasonous’ might be a more apt description of Mr Obama’s spending.’

- Sophie/ResistWeMuch, 26 September 2012

 Screw them.  Screw them all.