FACT CHECK: Obama disowns deficit he helped shape
WASHINGTON – "That wasn't me," President Barack Obama said on his 100th day in office, disclaiming responsibility for the huge budget deficit waiting for him on Day One. It actually was him — and the other Democrats controlling Congress the previous two years — who shaped a budget so out of balance.
And as a presidential candidate and president-elect, he backed the twilight Bush-era stimulus plan that made the deficit deeper, all before he took over and promoted spending plans that have made it much deeper still.
[...]
A look at some of his claims Wednesday:
OBAMA: "Number one, we inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit.... That wasn't me. Number two, there is almost uniform consensus among economists that in the middle of the biggest crisis, financial crisis, since the Great Depression, we had to take extraordinary steps. So you've got a lot of Republican economists who agree that we had to do a stimulus package and we had to do something about the banks. Those are one-time charges, and they're big, and they'll make our deficits go up over the next two years." — in Missouri.
THE FACTS:
Congress controls the purse strings, not the president, and it was under Democratic control for Obama's last two years as Illinois senator. Obama supported the emergency bailout package in President George W. Bush's final months — a package Democratic leaders wanted to make bigger.
To be sure, Obama opposed the Iraq war, a drain on federal coffers for six years before he became president. But with one major exception, he voted in support of Iraq war spending.
The economy has worsened under Obama, though from forces surely in play before he became president, and he can credibly claim to have inherited a grim situation.
Still, his response to the crisis goes well beyond "one-time charges."
He's persuaded Congress to expand children's health insurance, education spending, health information technology and more. He's moving ahead on a variety of big-ticket items on health care, the environment, energy and transportation that, if achieved, will be more enduring than bank bailouts and aid for homeowners.
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated his policy proposals would add a net $428 billion to the deficit over four years, even accounting for his spending reduction goals. Now, the deficit is nearly quadrupling to $1.75 trillion. [...]
Wow. Considering the source, and how most of the MSM has been gushing with praise, this is almost strong criticism. If you read the whole thing, there are more Obama statements, about health-care and Social Security, that are given the "Fact-Busting" treatment in this style.
I could get used to this! Is it an aberration, or a new trend by the AP? I guess we'll see as time goes on.
What is new about mainstream press raving about leftists and moving the dialogue further and further into worship of corporations ?
ReplyDeleteFor that matter - do you seriously believe that a monopolistic media will give you fair and balanced commentary ? Then to rant they are too 'Liberal' ! Hoo-haw. The mind is boggled ( yes, indeed it is ).
What is the last time you saw an article on the effects of mass layoffs or any recollection that robber barons raped the economic system so mercilessly that 'controls' were instituted against market domination by the few ?
That's likely to be branded Communist talk or some such ! Yet it was a respected tenet of American society not so many years ago.
Not that Obama doesn't deserve taking down off the perch of public adulation. A choice between occupying Iraq and switching to Afghanistan/Pakistan did not dominate election debate : 'Change' was the marketing theme.
Right. Want to buy a Bridge in Brooklyn ?
Further proof that the political center has moved Left. But then, you ARE in Canada...
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