None of the plans being debated today have the imprimatur of the Oval Office. At a moment when presidential leadership is so vital, President Obama has been passive. Passivity also was the hallmark of his approach to his other signature blockbuster initiatives: the TARP bailout, ObamaCare, and the financial services initiatives.
This of course makes perfect political sense for Obama. The only currency here in Washington is political currency. In Washington, make-believe numbers over dollars and cents are the tradition of both parties.
So as a stalemate approaches, the only question of substance is: Who lost America’s credit rating? The president can answer that Congress did, or the Tea Party did, or Speaker Boehner did. But the truth is there is only one president of the United States. There is only one national leader. And at the end of the day that’s how he will be judged.
There is also the overt politicization of the debt crisis. In February, the president coyly asked to raise the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion through 2013. The timing was not an accident. It was designed to allow the credit limit to expire after the next presidential election. Clearly there also was the stink of politics behind the timetable.
Economists have estimated that if our indebtedness continues on its current glide path, the debt ceiling will balloon to $26 trillion by 2020, or 100% of our gross national product.
Presidential leadership is essential at a moment of high peril.
Certainly high unemployment, a disastrous housing market, and a stagnant economy are national tragedies that occurred on the president’s watch. But these economic woes may be footnotes in the face of a debt-swollen government that ultimately kills American creditworthiness and long-term prosperity.
I wonder if obama will be held accountable by the MSM and historians.
Sat. night we're going to a graduation party, and some people in our extended family still agree with everything obama does. It's discouraging how stupid some people are.
“O” is utterly ignorant of even the most basal rudiments of finance and economics.
He is insensible to the fact that American workers are at the saturation point on taxation and that they feel exploited and coerced!!
So… “O” is immoveable in his conviction that U.S. workers ARE and MUST REMAIN the mindless, spineless, long-suffering and infinitely renewable ‘cash cow’ for ALL/ANY Liberal vote-getting, minority-pandering and anti-American programs they can dream up!!!
It is hard to blame him totally for this notion about American taxpayers because it has been a long time in the making and both parties had a hand in generating this kind of view.
“O” has egoistically exploited this idea like NO ONE before!!
ENOUGH!!!
Boehner is right about trying to do a deal with Jello Man, who keeps changing his mind because he has no principles.
As for calling for “shared sacrifice,” he has given up two weekends of golf.
The wise Obama has surrounded himself with the cream of America’s crop of thinkers. He has schooled himself over his short lifetime with military and economic strategies.
It’s now time to call an end to America’s suicidal experiment: electing a completely unknown negro (known only perhaps to the denizens who run Illinois from their bastion in Chicago’s sewer system) just to see what would happen.
Okay. We’ve now the answer and it’s not pleasant; but just think how unbiased the American electorate is. Many of us were willing to commit economic suicide by sacrificing our freedom and our nation to prove that you don’t have to know who the person is until you vote them into office. Rather like the sage Pelosi remarked about the most evil and heavy of legislation that had to be passed so we’d know what it was all about.
Take Back AMERICA!
FUBO GTFO 2012 !
The strain is showing in his face; not that I delight in his squirming. If he does preside over a default; I think he and Michelle will still head out for Martha’s Vineyard for yet another vacation. - It’s always his way or the highway; it was on Obamacare, looks like on this situation, too. He’s butted up against the Tea Party Republicans and others in Congress who see clearly what they’re up against with him; and they’re not likely to back down. - He seems to want to be a dictator, with absolutely no checks on him. Meantime, we’re up against it. Pray.
Let's not forget the Ryan Plan, passed by the House and rejected by the Senate.