Whose spending is it?
As with the debt ceiling crisis in 2011, as this one hoves into view, President Obama is using a somewhat startling argument:
[Raising the debt ceiling] "...says you (sic) got to pay the bills that you've already racked up, Congress."
Hmmm....That is an interesting formulation. Of course, it is the despair of all Republicans and conservatives that our guys either cannot or will not make an argument in the public forum. Whatever else you can say about the president, he is making his case in public.
But it is an interesting case. Congress' bills (meaning debts)? Well, technically that is true.
But the argument is "Mr. President, we thought that we were acquiescing, however reluctantly, to your spending levels, your spending programs, your priorities. While as Republicans we did not agree with them, we were acquiescing to them in the spirit of compromise, in respect to your office, and as part of making a republican government of separated powers work. However, if this is our spending and these are our debts then we will take charge. The first thing to do is to cut total spending by the federal government for fiscal 2014 by 10%."
Or some such. We have not had a president who has been so unwilling to take any responsibility for his actions, his programs, his administration. Because of the nature of politics, politicians are frivolous with the truth when running for office and they are not generally held too closely to what they say as candidates.
But once in office, they have a record. In President Obama's case, for instance, it was a key part of his philosophy that America had been too aggressive, too dominant in world affairs and that he was going to redress that. Which he proceeded to do with his apology tour in the Middle East in 2009.
But when Romney called him on it in the debates, far from defending it, he denied it! Same with oil production. Obama is a greenie and thinks that the future belongs to renewables. He used the BP runaway well in the Gulf of Mexico to cancel most drilling permits for American companies there. His administration has issued few, if any, permits for drilling on government land. But when Romney called him on it in the debates, he bragged about the increase in oil production during his administration, all of which occurred despite, not because of, his administration.
And now with our spending which leads to our increased debt. Suddenly, this is not his spending, his debt increase, it is Congress'! If that is the case, Congress, meaning the House, should seize the day and remake spending for fiscal 2014.