The latest attempt by the Obama campaign to use its media lackeys to create 'spontaneous' talking points surfaced yesterday and escalated today with an obviously pre-arranged barrage.
It started off with a piece in Market Watch by someone named Rex Nutting entitled, 'The Obama spending binge never happened.'
Essentially, the piece is a variation on the old hit tune 'Bush Did It.' Nutting attempts to bedazzle the math challenged by producing charts of federal spending under various presidents that purport to show that President Barack Obama is actually a fiscal conservative, presiding over the lowest federal outlays in modern history, Hey, who knew? And the very next day, like clockwork, these 'facts' were trumpeted in op-eds in the WAPO, The New York Times, The Soros media outlets and various outlets in the Lefty blogosphere. Another right wing myth exploded!
The president's campaign staff, of course,had his teleprompter loaded in advance to take advantage:
“I don’t know how they've been bamboozling folks into thinking that they are the responsible, fiscally-disciplined party. They run up these wild debts and then when we take over we have to clean it up,” Obama said. “And then they point and say, 'Look how irresponsible they are.' Look at facts, look at the numbers. And now I want to finish the job," President Obama said at a fundraiser in Denver.
Simple addition shows us that President Barack Hussein Obama has run up more debt than every one of his predecessors combined. So how did Nutting attempt to spin this and defy basic math?
Simple.
First he credits President Bush with massive spending during his second term, and adds well over a trillion dollars for 2009...conveniently leaving out that the 'wild debts' President Obama was pontificating about started cascading after January of 2006...when the Democrats took over both houses of Congress with a veto proof majority and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid started running things.
Second, he also leaves out the cute little fact that the then Senator Obama was a member of Congress who was sworn in after the 2004 elections and remained in the Senate throughout George W. Bush's second term. Barack Obama thus voted for every bit of those 'wild debts' he's laboring to convince people he had nothing to do with..including TARP.
President Obama's 'stimulus' (essentially a looting of the federal treasury for his political allies), the gifting of GM to the unions at the taxpayer's expense and the subsequent tax break at the taxpayer's expense, the half trillion stolen from Medicare to pay for ObamaCare, the billions gifted to Obama donors and bundlers touting various green energy scams like Solyndra, $2 billion for the President and Michelle's little road trip to India, a billion or more for the Libya War, none of these appear on Nutting's chart as spending. Neither do the effects of the president's policy of quantitative easing, which involved 'digitizing' dollars to 'buy' debt and significantly lowered the value of U.S. currency.
Nutting also comes out with this gem: " [Obama's] budget proposals called for even more spending in subsequent years. But the Congress (mostly Republicans but many Democrats, too) stopped him. If Obama had been a king who could impose his will, perhaps what the Republicans are saying about an Obama spending binge would be accurate."
You have to wonder who writes this man's comedy material.
The budget and spending that were mandated were entirely the work of the Democrats who controlled both houses of Congress. And far from 'stopping him' the Democrats forced ObamaCare, the 'stimulus', the auto bail outs and many other wasteful programs through without Republican input, because they had enough votes. Does Nutting not want us to remember how the Republicans were literally locked out of the room while these programs and legislation were crafted? The GOP wasn't able to get control of the House of Representatives until January of 2011, and even then they've been thwarted by this president use of executive orders and signing statements to recklessly continue running up the nation's credit card - to the point where our national credit rating was lowered for the first time in history.
And the constant references to 'the Obama budget' are giggle worthy all by themselves. There's been no Obama budget for three years...just requests to raise the debt ceiling to keep the fiction going.
I really hope the president and his allies like Nutting keep singing this particular song...first, because 'Bushie Done It' isn't quite the hit it once was, and because the obvious bolshoi is so easily refuted.
President Bush spent far more federal money than I liked, but he also had trillion dollar hits in the form of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina to deal with. As my friend over at Political Math reminds us, comparing Bush's spending with Obama's is like comparing someone driving 63 MPH with someone roaring along at 170 MPH...and never mind that during Bush's second term, the Democrats called the tune! In fact, if anything, President Obama's recklessness and speed has increased markedly since the video was made.
6 comments:
conveniently leaving out that the 'wild debts' President Obama was pontificating about started cascading after January of 2006...when the Democrats took over both houses of Congress
So you're starting the clock on President Obama's debt a full three years before he became president, back when he was 1 of 535 in congress? And, by this logic, are you saying that Reagan ran a $0 deficit because his party didn't control congress at the time? Or maybe every dollar of debt after 1994 had nothing to do with Clinton as he didn't have control of congress?
Oh, and my favorite part: Bush "had trillion dollar hits in the form of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina to deal with." So are you saying they don't count? Because Obama had trillion dollar hits in the form of the Iraq War and Bush's total mishandling of the economy to deal with. Should they not count as well?
If you're just going to cherrypick and fudge the numbers until you get the result you want, don't expect to change many minds. The math is simple and stated clearly at the top of your post: the Obama spending binge never happened.
Nice try anonymous..no sale.
We could have a wonderful discussion about the economy Reagan inherited, or the way Clinton was essentially rescued by the 1994 Congress. I guess you also forgot that the economy was in recession when Bush took over and even his enemies admitted that the tax cuts and resulting economic activity brought us out of it. But let's stick with Obama.
I'm starting the debt exactly where it belongs, according to the CBO figures ..the crazy spending happened after the Democrats took over congress in January, 2006, Civics 101 - Congress holds the purse strings.I guess you forgot, but you ought to be capable of looking up Obama's voting record in the Senate.
It's hilarious that he has his lackeys in the media try and divert people from his record with the old crap 'Look, a squirrel! Bushie did it!' He's got enormous nerve trying to blame someone else for his screw ups. So do you.
Even funnier is your comparing two emergencies Bush was hit with - 911 and Katrina - with Obama's willful plundering of the treasury for a bogus 'stimulus', ObamaCare, the GM bailout and subsequient gifting to the unions and the other things I mentioned above. The first involves a situation that had to be dealt with, the others were a CHOICE on the part of this president.
As for Iraq, I agree with you, and I've said so before. Wasting a trillion dollars on 'nation building' to create a Shi'ite Islamic Republic was stoo-pid. Oh but wait a mo'...hey, Barack Obama voted to fund that too, just like all the other Democrats! Aside from Dennis Kucinich, did any of them even try seriously to cut off funding? Even after 2006 when they had a veto proof majority? They could have stopped it at any time. They didn't. And Obama went along with it all.
Own this. Obama VOTED for the same policies he's now condemning and blsming on Bush. You don't think he's responsible for his voting record? For the policies of his party, whom he voted in lockstep with? For the wasteful spending he's done since he slithered into the Oval Office? What would it take for you to blame our Dear Leader for anything?
Forget I asked that question..I already know the answer.
You can try to fudge the numbers, like the clown who wrote the original piece did, but you can't deny them.
The binge never happened? Good luck trying to convince people on that one. He's added more debt than all his predecessors combined, lowered our credit rating, weakened our currency, caused the prices of energy, food and goods to rise because of his policies, and he and his party haven't even been able to come up with an actual budget since he's been in power...not even during the first two years when he could have done anything he wanted, but concentrated on treating America the way he and his cronies treated Chicago for years...robbing it blind.
I think Barack Obama and his friends were very wrong about something - figuring that everybody is stupid except them.
We'll see come November.
What you're saying simply doesn't make any sense. It's moving the goal posts in a strange way.
If you only count who's holding the purse strings, then Reagan and Bush I never racked up a penny of debt. Clinton barely made a dent. Do you really mean that?
But Obama's debt spending starts in 2006 when he was one of many. If that's how you're counting, why not include 2004 and on? 2004 is when Obama first became prominent. It only makes sense that you would tie the debt from 2004-2006 to him as well.
Surely you see why no one will take this line of argument seriously? I'm for lower government spending across the board, but there simply is no difference between the two parties when it comes to spending, and trying to backdate a presidency just to make the facts fit comes across as weird and won't be that effective.
I'm basically a conservative democrat and I'll vote for Obama in the fall, but if I were a republican strategist trying to win over people like me, I would bring up the Gibson Guitar raid, the pot dispensary raids, and the hundred or so other things that Obama has done that make me queasy about his anti-business tendencies. Your complaining about a deficit that Obama had nothing to do with doesn't really seem like a good use of your time.
as i read this, hussein is bush's third term.
Oh, C'mon Anonymous. We both know I'm not 'moving goalposts'.
The CBO figures clearly show that the insane spending started in 2006 thanks to Pelosi, Reid and the Democrats taking over and that Obama fully supported it. I merely point out the hypocrisy of his lying about it and blaming it on Bush..especially since the spending ratcheted even more out of control once he took over.Own it.
He was an accessory who aided and abetted the crime, and he put it into overdrive once he entered the White House.You can tell me with a straight face he had nothing to do with the deficit when he's run up more debt than all the other past presidents combined? When his quantitative easing of our currency and lowering of our credit rating directly added to the deficit, not to mention his energy and regulatory policies?Again, own it.
Also, PLEASE don't embarrass yourself by referring to yourself as a 'conservative Democrat' who favors across the board spending cuts when you say you're going to vote for Obama in November.
The first two statements are impossible given the third statement, and are just a blind to try to give your beliefs some kind of credibility.
If you support the miserable failure we have in the Oval Office and are planning to vote to give him four more years to wreck the country, you have that right, and I actually had no plans to convince you otherwise based on your first comment.I know from experience that people with your mindset don't have arguments, they merely repeat the same talking points ad nauseum.
Actually, what I wanted my readers to see is exactly how the Left is spinning this and how to answer it to show it up for the nonsense it is if it comes up as the Big Lie is repeated.
Many thanks for that opportunity, Anonymous.
Regards,
Rob
These's no question that government spending and borrowing has risen substantially under President Obama. In addition, there's no question this government spending has risen substantially at an accelerating rate since 2006. Furthermore I think there is no question that this level of spending is insane. Essentially if someone thinks it is sane or that it is sustainable it is going to be impossible to have a rational conversation with such people!! As such, for the duration of this thread I'm going to assume the spending is "insane." Clearly it "happened." Charts showing the rapid increase in spending as well as the numbers that have occurred on Mr. Obama's watch are available. Furthermore the spending that while dangerous prior to 2006 started accelarating after 2006 when the Democrats gained control of the House and the Senate. Given the massive defeats suffered by the Bush Administration in the 2006 elections by the end of 2006 President Bush had been reduced to little more than a figurehead with no real power. Clearly the current level of spending and borrowing "happened" after Democrats gained complete control. When Obama came to office, he did nothing to curtail this and even increased it with his ill advised stimulus plan. Since it happened on his watch, he had it within his power to curtail, and he did not it seems inadvisable to absolve him of responsibilty for this. When one finds themselves facing to much debt prudence suggests one of the following as sensible actions to take. 1.)Refinance the debt at a lower interest rate. 2.)Negotiate with the creditors to lower the amounts due and possibly the interest rates. 3.)Reduce spending in other areas leaving more money available to pay the debt. 4.)Declare bankruptcy thereby eliminating the debt entirely or at least making the payments more manageable. Under no circumstances would it be prudent for a person struggling with debt to add fresh new debt on top of the current debt. Clearly the US has not pursued any one of the three options listed above and has instead added fresh new debt. It is incorrect for Mr. Obama to say he is "cleaning up" after the Republicans or Mr. Bush. When one is cleaning up, we expect a reduction in the "mess." In this case, the "mess" is the massive national debt. To decrese the "mess" the first step would have been to authorize no new debt. This hasn't been done. While Republicans must share the blame, the primary blame is Mr. Obama's. He and his allies control the entire government beuracracy and the entire news media. He's had ample opportunity to lobby for and achieve substantail reductions in spending and debt but has not done so. In fact, the only part of the goverment facing any pressure to make cuts of any type is the military!! While EVERTONE who relies on government funding including the military MUST take a haircut, it is insane to target the military and only the military for these cuts. The military is one of the few vital functions the government is currently involved in.
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