If President Obama was interested in moving on to a more constructive way of running the government after the shutdown and near-default on federal obligations, he could not have made a worse start than he did today.
In a speech at the White House, Obama angrily blamed his opponents in the House for refusing to negotiate their differences. And yet wasn’t it he to made it clear he would not negotiate in the context of the debt ceiling or changes in the Affordable Care Act?
He challenged the Republicans in the House to do the “hard work” and win an election. He must have forgotten that every single House member won an election in 2012, just as he did.
Obama refused to take any share of the blame for what happened. Instead he repeated that the economy was growing and the deficit was getting smaller. Maybe so, but the government’s finances are so weak that it cannot pay its bills without first borrowing more. And while Obamacare did not cause this problem, it is making it worse.
Obama blamed House Republicans for damaging the economy. And what about him? What has he done to free up enterprise and encourage jobs? As for Oregon, he threatens to veto a job-creating forestry bill. He talks one thing and does the opposite.
The country needs some leadership and wisdom now, and all we get from him is blame. (hh)
From Patrick Lair, on Facebook: Hasso, sorry but I completely disagree. The Tea Party owns this one and needs to be held accountable. Their actions were reckless, unconstitutional, and costly. Shutdown cost US economy $24 billion. Extremism coming from the far right is the biggest threat to our country and we need to address it before they do more serious damage. Their philosophy is starkly anti-American and damaging to the long-term well-being of the country. Obama has reduced federal spending to its lowest levels in several decades, walked us out of two erroneous wars, and put us on the path to recovery. Still, Tea Party zealots focus on destroying him and this country in the process. I agree with Obama. Come up with a better plan and get the votes to pass it. That’s the way the Constitution intends representative government to work. I have no patience for Tea Partiers that feel justified blowing up the system when they don’t get their way. That’s a tactic used by terrorists.
Thanks, Patrick. Let’s see where blaming people gets us. (hh)
Patrick Lair: Well, if you follow Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, or any of the others fostering the TP movement, all you’ll get is blame, much of it unjustified and uninformed. Their only solution apparently is to call the American system a bad one and encourage us to loathe it.
From Alex Paul, on Facebook: The “shutdown” is akin to an obese person going on a crash diet. It seldom works and is unhealthy. Both sides of the aisle must develop a short-term plan to balance the budget and then develop a 20- or 30-year plan to deal with the national debt. We didn’t get into this mess overnight and we won’t get out of it quickly either. It will not be accomplished without some pain for both conservatives and liberals, but we cannot continue along this path, leaving our grandchildren a legacy of debt.
Dolphie Ness, on Facebook: Obama’s divisive antics is what is problematic. Between him and Reid, this is a mess. POTUS has forgotten there are THREE branches of government and that the House was doing what it was supposed to do – control the purse strings. The ones on the correct path were Sen. Cruz, Sen. Lee, (Sens. Jim Inhofe, Jeff Sessions, Paul Rand and Repr. Louie Gohmert). This government is out of control with its spending, ACA will bankrupt us and is a complete fiasco (freedom, privacy, financially, health/medical care, not to mention wasted 100s of millions of dollars on the site). The petty immature antics of POTUS relative to the monuments/parks, veterans, military, death benefits, NIH – that was beyond ridiculous. It also showed how much the Democrats have moved beyond being there For the People and how much they are into Control, Power and reduction of Individual Freedoms.
Steven Zielke, on Facebook: Thankful for the president’s statement. He’s absolutely correct about this. The tone was spot on. Future presidents are likely to be very grateful for this, both republicans and democrats. This idea that people shouldn’t be blamed is silly. Yeah, someone should be blamed, and in this case, it’s pretty easy to see who it is.
Obama strikes the wrong note
In a speech at the White House, Obama angrily blamed his opponents in the House for refusing to negotiate their differences. And yet wasn’t it he to made it clear he would not negotiate in the context of the debt ceiling or changes in the Affordable Care Act?
He challenged the Republicans in the House to do the “hard work” and win an election. He must have forgotten that every single House member won an election in 2012, just as he did.
Obama refused to take any share of the blame for what happened. Instead he repeated that the economy was growing and the deficit was getting smaller. Maybe so, but the government’s finances are so weak that it cannot pay its bills without first borrowing more. And while Obamacare did not cause this problem, it is making it worse.
Obama blamed House Republicans for damaging the economy. And what about him? What has he done to free up enterprise and encourage jobs? As for Oregon, he threatens to veto a job-creating forestry bill. He talks one thing and does the opposite.
The country needs some leadership and wisdom now, and all we get from him is blame. (hh)
From Patrick Lair, on Facebook: Hasso, sorry but I completely disagree. The Tea Party owns this one and needs to be held accountable. Their actions were reckless, unconstitutional, and costly. Shutdown cost US economy $24 billion. Extremism coming from the far right is the biggest threat to our country and we need to address it before they do more serious damage. Their philosophy is starkly anti-American and damaging to the long-term well-being of the country. Obama has reduced federal spending to its lowest levels in several decades, walked us out of two erroneous wars, and put us on the path to recovery. Still, Tea Party zealots focus on destroying him and this country in the process. I agree with Obama. Come up with a better plan and get the votes to pass it. That’s the way the Constitution intends representative government to work. I have no patience for Tea Partiers that feel justified blowing up the system when they don’t get their way. That’s a tactic used by terrorists.
Thanks, Patrick. Let’s see where blaming people gets us. (hh)
From Alex Paul, on Facebook: The “shutdown” is akin to an obese person going on a crash diet. It seldom works and is unhealthy. Both sides of the aisle must develop a short-term plan to balance the budget and then develop a 20- or 30-year plan to deal with the national debt. We didn’t get into this mess overnight and we won’t get out of it quickly either. It will not be accomplished without some pain for both conservatives and liberals, but we cannot continue along this path, leaving our grandchildren a legacy of debt.
Dolphie Ness, on Facebook: Obama’s divisive antics is what is problematic. Between him and Reid, this is a mess. POTUS has forgotten there are THREE branches of government and that the House was doing what it was supposed to do – control the purse strings. The ones on the correct path were Sen. Cruz, Sen. Lee, (Sens. Jim Inhofe, Jeff Sessions, Paul Rand and Repr. Louie Gohmert). This government is out of control with its spending, ACA will bankrupt us and is a complete fiasco (freedom, privacy, financially, health/medical care, not to mention wasted 100s of millions of dollars on the site). The petty immature antics of POTUS relative to the monuments/parks, veterans, military, death benefits, NIH – that was beyond ridiculous. It also showed how much the Democrats have moved beyond being there For the People and how much they are into Control, Power and reduction of Individual Freedoms.
Steven Zielke, on Facebook: Thankful for the president’s statement. He’s absolutely correct about this. The tone was spot on. Future presidents are likely to be very grateful for this, both republicans and democrats. This idea that people shouldn’t be blamed is silly. Yeah, someone should be blamed, and in this case, it’s pretty easy to see who it is.
Tags: debt ceiling, government shutdown, Obama