President Obama's Deceit About The Debt Ceiling

At the very least, a sitting President always has one true advantage over his political opponents. Some people call it the bully pulpit, but it is the ability to use his office to make statements, even hold press conferences at the end of their first terms, to push for the policy initiatives they hold near and dear to their heart. Some presidents are better at this than others. Considering that, Barack Obama should be classified as a master of the bully pulpit. He is using it to its full potential and is attacking the Republicans for their stance on the coming debate over the debt ceiling. Yes, his hastily called press conference, which have been few and far between for this President, covered other issues besides the debt ceiling. He mentioned gun control, which will probably get its own time in the sun later in the week, but the main bulk of his remarks had to do with the debt ceiling.

After the fiscal cliff deal was passed and signed into law, many of us who follow these things warned that the fight was not over. The Republicans arguably held a stronger hand, now that higher taxes were off the table, but it turns out that isn't the case. President Obama has made sure everyone who is listening knows he isn't finished with higher taxes. He plainly told the Republicans they had another thing coming if he was going to allow them to make spending cuts, without raising taxes even higher. It was also revealed that the President does not believe our federal government has a spending problem. I call that denying the obvious, but Obama seems to really believe that fallacy.

Ever since the beginning of the year, the President has made it clear he does not intend to negotiate or hold a debate over the debt ceiling. He has made statements that decry such a debate as irresponsible and has flatly said he will not negotiate with Republicans over this issue. He reiterated that position in yesterday's press conference and even went a step further. He is making the claim that if the Republicans refuse to raise the debt ceiling, certain things are likely to happen.  

(Washington Post, via The Lonely Conservative) “I’m a pretty friendly guy,” President Obama said near the end of his White House news conference Monday afternoon. The claim might have been a touch more plausible if he hadn’t spent the bulk of the previous hour demonstrating just how adversarial he could be. Indeed, there was no precipitating event that led him to schedule the last-minute session in the East Room — lending credibility to the theory that he summoned reporters so he could bait Republicans. “If congressional Republicans refuse to pay America’s bills on time, Social Security checks and veterans benefits will be delayed,” the friendly president said, explaining his refusal to negotiate over increasing the debt limit.

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