Kicking the Can

In Friday's installment of "As the Debt Ceiling Turns" President Obama held his third press conference in two weeks and regaled the press attending, and a national TV audience, with several whoppin' one-liners.  The most bombastic being that "80% of the country support a balanced approach to the debt crisis" meaning including tax hikes to solve the issue.  He then followed that up with the hilarious factoid that apparently a majority of grass root Republicans also want a tax increase.  Got to hand it to him - this man has gall.  Or is just the dumbest stooge to come down the pike.  Or both.  Instead of commentating endlessly without shedding any light on the issue, why doesn't he just lead?

Did I really say 80%?

Of course, the public does not want a tax increase to solve the debt limit issue (that Obama has largely created on his own) - only 34% support that premise in a recent Gallup poll.  And I know of no Republican who has ever advocated for higher taxes - it's against our religion.  Obama's strange line of logic to get Republican support to increase the debt ceiling (in order to gain passage in the GOP majority House) somehow relies on obtaining tax increases.  And Republican's are using the debt ceiling issue to obtain badly needed budget cuts because of Obama' incredible blooming deficit (see chart below) - thus they have asked for cuts at least equal to the potential debt ceiling increase.  Obama increduously wants Republicans to raise taxes (which will theoretically only give Obama more money to waste) when he didn't even ask a Democratic controlled Congress to do it two years ago.  And, of course that will only hurt the jobless non-recovery we are now "enjoying". 

The main stream media coverage on this issue has been abominible - basically taking Obama's poll-tested catch phrases and reporting them as fact.  For example, the LA Times keeps running front page articles about "divisions amongst the Republicans" - nothing about Obama's inaction.  The reality is the Democrats have not even passed a budget for over two years.  Obama's budget for 2011 was voted down 97-0 by the Senate in April.  Obama has never cared about the debt ceiling and to this day has offered no plan (but the media keeps reporting like he has).  He keeps asking for a "big" package so he can get enought debt coverage to dodge this issue beyond next year's election but insists he would veto a smaller measure (because it won't).  If that doesn't show how he puts his interests above the country's, I don't know what else will.

And by the way, Obama and other Democrats voted against the debt ceiling in 2006.  Where was the media outrage there?  Sen. Marco Rubio - R, FL articulated the issues succinctly and as well as anyone on Face the Nation this Sunday.  He makes Obama look like a pre-schooler.

UPDATE 7-18-11:  With the Republicans moving a bill through the House to address the debt ceiling issue, the Obama White House announced that it will veto such bill.  See - he doesn't want to address it AT ALL.