Craven

The U.S. Constitution, adopted September 17, 1787: “Section. 8. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;...” (archives.gov).


“This debt limit increase is his [Obama’s] problem...” John Boehner, Speaker of the House, July 12, 2011.

“We need to raise the debt limit - but Republicans can’t take the responsibility.” Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, July 12, 2011. (OK, that’s not a quote - just a summary of what he said. He described his plan where the Republicans would vote “against” a debt limit increase - but also give Obama the authority to do it, abdicating their responsibility under the Constitution. See Mitch McConnell says Republicans will not let government default.)

Shame on you. Your economics are wrong. Your politics (I pray) are wrong. And your idea of leadership is to point the finger at somebody else, to shirk your duty, and to avoid any sense of responsibility for the state of our nation. The most out of touch institution in the U.S. is the Congress. This is about your spending, your tax policies, the budgets and earmarks and tax loopholes and bailouts and pork that you lobbied for, schemed for, and voted for.

Obama’s time in office: 19 months. Average length of service in the House at the beginning of the 110th Congress was more than 10 years; in the Senate, 12.8 years. If you want to assign blame, start from there.

If you want to accept responsibility, you need to start from a very different place. The President “implored both political parties to give ground and show the American people that Washington can actually work. ‘If not now, when?’ Obama said” (Debt-talks). Big proposals - the Republicans say no. Moderate proposals - the Republicans say no.

It’s about economics - artificially low taxes for the wealthy. And it’s about politics - according to Sen. McConnell, as long as Obama is president “a real solution is unattainable.” That means “we won’t work with this guy no matter what happens to the country.”

America will judge which position represents responsible leadership.

Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader McConnell: the debt limit, and the deficit, and the debt, and the job crisis, the housing crisis, the banking crisis, and the gap between rich and the rest of us - all of these are our problems. America gets it - why can't you?

 

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