The Buck Stops Here....
unless you are the Obama Administration and then the buck stops at President Bush's feet.....Last Tuesday night, in a prime time press conference, President Obama (in answer to a question about his deficit spending) whined.....
There is only one little problem with that little theory...it's called the US Constitution. You see the Constitution spells out the responsibilities of the Congress and the President and the Congress is solely responsible for writing budget legislation and who do you suppose has had control of the Congress? It's not Republicans. Oh to be sure, President Bush signed the Democrats budgets, but Congress wrote the legislation.....and included in that Congress was one Senator Barack Obama! So before he starts blaming ANYONE for his deficits....
Even the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has disagreements with the President on this...
Put it another way - in 60 short days, President Obama has more deficit spending under his belt that President Bush and the Republican Congress could have ever dreamed of!
So rather than blame his predecessor - President Obama needs to stand up and take credit for his accomplishment. Let's face it - it takes a lot to spend that much money in such a short amount of time.....
"as I recall I am inheriting a 1.3 trillion dollar deficit from them (Republicans)"
There is only one little problem with that little theory...it's called the US Constitution. You see the Constitution spells out the responsibilities of the Congress and the President and the Congress is solely responsible for writing budget legislation and who do you suppose has had control of the Congress? It's not Republicans. Oh to be sure, President Bush signed the Democrats budgets, but Congress wrote the legislation.....and included in that Congress was one Senator Barack Obama! So before he starts blaming ANYONE for his deficits....
Even the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has disagreements with the President on this...
Put it another way - in 60 short days, President Obama has more deficit spending under his belt that President Bush and the Republican Congress could have ever dreamed of!
So rather than blame his predecessor - President Obama needs to stand up and take credit for his accomplishment. Let's face it - it takes a lot to spend that much money in such a short amount of time.....
Labels: President Obama
posted by The Lady Logician at
8:55 PM
7 Comments:
The new administration is taking full responsibility for all government spending, doing what it takes to save Main Street from economic ruins, and not hiding the costs of military operations off-budget as the Bush administration did.
Isn't it amazing how the right-wingers now cite the Constitution in almost every blog post? Where were they when Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress were blatantly violating the Constitution?
Our Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and President Obama is a constitutional law professor-- there is no need to remind him.
By
rmwarnick, at 8:35 AM
rmwarnick,
I am one of those non-existent right-wingers that was citing the Constitution for years before Obama became president. I also have an opinion on the cart above that cuts through the partisan posturing on the issue. Obama did inherit a deficit of $1.3 Trillion from a Democratic congress encouraged by a Republican president. Naturally it makes sense that if you inherit a deficit that large the first thing you should do is spend another $500 Billion.
By
Anonymous, at 9:54 AM
Chart above, not cart (I usually catch those things before I hit "publish."
By
Anonymous, at 9:55 AM
David--
It makes sense if you pay attention to the GDP and unemployment numbers.
The U.S. just experienced a 6.3 percent decline in GDP, the worst quarter in 26 years.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says there are 12.5 million Americans out of work-- same as in 1933, the worst year of the Great Depression.
By
rmwarnick, at 11:45 AM
Richard - did you watch the video of the presser? The question was put to the President about HIS DEFICIT SPENDING and his answer was to blame Republicans. That is NOT taking responsibility for one's own actions - that is laying blame.
David - that chart that you accuse "right-wingers" of misrepresenting was created by the NON-PARTISAN Congressional Budget Office. Now if you have data that the CBO does not have I am sure that they would LOVE to hear from you....
Regarding the number of unemployed today being equal to the Great Depression Richard I have a question - what was the TOTAL POPULATION of the country then and what is it now? I think you will discover that the population of the country was much smaller during the Great Depression, making the total number of unemployed a much larger PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATION than it is today. You are creating a false dichotomy with that example my dear.....
LL
By
The Lady Logician, at 1:37 PM
LL-- You know perfectly well that President Obama takes full responsibility for everything. He pointed out weeks ago that if his economic plans don't work out, then there will be another president in 2013. Simple as that.
It's just an undeniable fact that the Bush administration left behind a record deficit and a ruined economy.
As for unemployment, you could also say that a lot more people lived on farms in 1933, and there were few two-paycheck households. So what? My point is, 12.5 million unemployed is a lot of people, and we need to find jobs for them or the economy won't recover.
By
rmwarnick, at 3:30 PM
LL, you're now stooping to semantics arguments to pass the blame from Bush to Obama?
That's... um... amazing.
By
Jason The, at 12:45 AM
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