Obama Continues Debt Ceiling Blame Game

President Tries to Blame Everyone But Himself for Democrats’ Spending Spree

• Speaking at his first twitter town hall, President Obama made the incendiary accusation that House Republicans are using the debt ceiling as “a gun against the heads of the American people to extract tax breaks for corporate jet owners.”
• These comments come just days after the President and his top aides similarly tried to pin blame on congressional Democrats for the debt crisis the nation now faces.
• The president’s shocking unwillingness to take responsibility for Democrats’ $3.6 trillion spending spree helps explain why Americans continue to distrust Democrats on deficit reduction and cutting spending.

BACKGROUND:

Speaking at his first twitter town hall, President Obama made the incendiary accusation that House Republicans are using the debt ceiling as “a gun against the heads of the American people to extract tax breaks for corporate jet owners”:

PRESIDENT OBAMA: “Here’s the more basic point. Never in our history has the United States defaulted on its debt. The debt ceiling should not be something that is used as a gun against the heads of the American people to extract tax breaks for corporate jet owners or oil and gas companies that are making billions of dollars…” (Remarks from President Obama, Twitter Town Hall, 7/6/2011)

These comments come just days after the President and his top aides similarly tried to pin blame on congressional Democrats for the debt crisis the nation now faces:

PRESIDENT OBAMA: “These are bills that Congress ran up.  … They took the vacation.  They bought the car.  And now they’re saying maybe we don’t have to pay, or we don’t have to pay as fast as we said we were going to, or — that’s not how responsible families act.” (Remarks from President Obama, “Press Conference by the President,” The White House, 6/29/2011)

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF BILL DALEY: “After all, Daley said, it wasCongress that ‘passed all the legislation that created the deficit that we are in and they must solve this problem and the president is, has been and continues to be the force of trying to bring people together.’ ” (George Stephanopoulos, “White House Chief of Staff on Debt Ceiling: No Veto Threat But GOP Can’t Worry About ‘Feelings’,” ABC News, 6/30/2011)

WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR DAN PFIEFFER: “It’s sort of an irrelevant question because what we have here is the fact — is that Congress has run up a significant number of bills on the congressional credit card. Those bills come due in August and we have to pay them.” (Remarks from Dan Pfeiffer, MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown,” 6/30/11)

This shocking unwillingness to take responsibility for his administration’s policies helps explain why substantial numbers of Americans continue to distrust Democrats on deficit reduction and cutting spending:

MCCLATCHY/MARIST POLL: ALMOST TWO-THIRDS OF AMERICANS DISAPPROVE OF OBAMA’S HANDLING OF BUDGET DEFICITS: “Another ominous sign for Obama: By nearly 2-1, voters disapprove of how he’s handling the federal budget deficit, expected to hit a record $1.5 trillion this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.” (Dave Lichtman, “Poll: Approval of Obama on Economic Policy Hits New Low,” McClatchy News, 6/28/2011)

MARIST: INDEPENDENTS THINK DEBT SHOULD BE PRIORITY NO. 1: “Looking at party, 79% of Republicans want the debt to be paid down while 15% think stimulating the economy should be the priority.  There is less of a consensus among Democrats.  Half — 50% — believe the government should focus on stimulating the economy while 45% say the national debt should top the government’s “to do” list.  More than six in ten independents — 61% — think the priority should be the reduction of the debt even if the economy rebounds slowly.” (“7/6: Americans Want Debt to Take Center Stagein Washington,” Marist, 7/6/2011)

62% CONCERNED CONGRESS WILL “NOT CUT SPENDING ENOUGH” IN DEBT CEILING DEAL, FEW CONCERNED CONGRESS WILL CUT TOO MUCH: “Only thirty-one percent (31%) indicate that their biggest worry about a political deal on the debt limit is that Congress would cut spending too much. Fully sixty-two percent (62%) indicate that their concern is that Congress will not cut spending enough.” (“Memorandum: National Survey on the Debt Ceiling,” The Tarrance Group, 6/13/2011)

It’s not hard to see why. Obama’s Treasury has actually lost track of how much of our debt is owned by China while Democrats have dug a $3.6 trillion debt hole:

DEMOCRATS INCREASED SPENDING BY $3.6 TRILLION IN TWO YEARS: “In January 2009, the national debt stood at $10.6 trillion. Fueled by the so-called stimulus, this debt grew by $3.6 trillion in just two years. The magnitude of this amount is difficult to grasp without a comparison. Under Mr. Obama, government has been borrowing $4.6 billion each and every day. That’s more than it cost to construct the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. In other words, the amount of future productivity being sapped from the American economy would be sufficient to construct a new 160-story skyscraper every day of the year.” (Editorial, “Obama Spending Hits New Records,” The Washington Times, 3/8/2011)

CHINA “CAUGHT … BUYING MORE [U.S.] DEBT THAN DISCLOSED”: “When the Treasury Department revamped its rules for participating in government bond auctions two years ago, officials said they were simply modernizing outdated procedures.

“The real reason for the change, a Reuters investigation has found, was more serious: The Treasury had concluded that China was buying much more in U.S. government debt than was being disclosed, potentially in violation of auction rules, and it wanted to bring those purchases into the open – all without ruffling feathers in Beijing. …

“The incident calls into question just how clear a handle the Treasury has had on who is buying U.S. debt.Chinese entities hold at least $1.115 trillion in U.S. government debt, and are thought to account for roughly 26 percent of the paper issued by Washington, according to U.S. government data released on June 15.” (Emily Flitter, “U.S. Caught China Buying More Debt than Disclosed,” Reuters,6/30/2011)