President Barack Obama still won't tell the truth about which calamity he's trying to head off in the debt ceiling negotiations. In his third press conference in two weeks, he tried once again to convince the American people that he is fighting against a catastrophic default. But Republican lawmakers announced earlier in the day that the House of Representatives will vote next week on a $2.4 trillion debt ceiling increase (with matching spending cuts) that will head off the potential debt crisis. The problem for Mr. Obama is it won't head off the impending crisis for his political career.
It turns out that the August 2, 2011 deadline for catastrophe that Obama & Company have been touting is perfectly timed if you're a failed president who desperately wants to be re-elected in 2012. In his opening statement today, Mr. Obama declared, "we have a unique opportunity to do something big." But the kind of big deal he wants would take all mention of debt and deficits off the front page and out of the minds of most voters giving him the entire length of the campaign to keep on spending more and borrowing more with impunity.
This morning he spoke of a hypothetical debt deal by saying, "If they show me a serious plan I'm ready to move." But when asked if he would consider the $2.4 trillion Republican plan a serious one, he admitted he hasn't seen it but still dismissed it saying, "My expectation is that you'll probably see the House vote on a couple of things just to make political statements. But if you're trying to get to $2.4 trillion without any revenue, then you are effectively gutting a whole bunch of domestic spending that is going to be too burdensome and is not going to be something that I would support."
Way to stay on message, Mr. President; reject someone else's plan without even looking at it, offer no specific plan of your own and use unsubstantiated threats of gutted programs and heavy burdens to frighten our most vulnerable citizens. Of course he also tossed in the now-perfunctory attack on millionaires, billionaires, oil companies and those evil corporate jet owners to fan the class warfare flames he needs to keep burning if he has any hope of winning a second term.
All this makes the main point of his presentation today even more unbelievable than his usual empty rhetoric. Stating that the debt issue "is going to continue to plague us for months and years to come," Mr. Obama actually said, "I think it's important for the American people that everybody in this town set politics aside, that everybody in this town sets our individual interests aside and we try to do some tough stuff." Obviously he is not interested in taking his own advice.
With both sides seemingly so far apart, Mr. Obama was asked why he still has hope that further negotiations will provide any results, "I always have hope," he said with a smile, "Don't you remember my campaign?"
How could we forget when it never ends?
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