Vacillator in Chief



 

Red is gray and yellow white,
But we decide which is right.

The Day Begins

Moody Blues

 

 

I know this happens in every presidential administration. Hypocrisy, vacillation and yes, even lies. Although I do have to admit, this current inhabitant of the White House takes the cake. I admire his stoicism. He can, with a straight face, perpetuate policy which is antithetical to what he has said as Senator Obama or Candidate Obama. It is stunning; sometimes galling.

Lets address the biggest flip flop first - the debt limit. In March 2006, Senator Obama stood on the Senate floor and said the following:

 “The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of      leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. government can’t pay its own bills. ... I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”

 

 

This past week, at his final first term presser, President Obama said the following on the debt limit:

 

 

 "Republicans in Congress have two choices here. They can act responsibly, and pay America’s bills, or they can act irresponsibly and put America through another economic crisis. But they will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the American economy. The financial well being of the American people is not leverage to be used. The full faith and credit of the United States of America is not a bargaining chip. And they better choose quickly, because time is running short."

 

If we go back to the March 2006 speech once again, Senator Obama was very critical on how President Bush was robbing the country of opportunities by running up such a large debt:

“This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and states of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health-care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on. Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to investment in America’s priorities. Instead, interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans — a debt tax that Washington doesn’t want to talk about. If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies.”

 

 

I am not going to recount what President Obama says about the debt these days. It is almost a daily rant that he "had" to accumulate more debt due to the failure of the past administration. The truth of the matter is this - left to his own devices, the debt would eclipse $20T by the time he left office in 2016. That means the Senator who deplored debt would run up our debt by $10T as a two term President.


Oh there are many others also which I will not go into. Gitmo, warrantless wire tapping, rendition, just to name a few.  The old Native American saying we should not judge until we "walk a mile in someone else's moccasins" comes to mind. How are those moccasins fitting you Mr. President? I bet there are many times they are somewhat uncomfortable.