Last night we were once again treated to clashing lightning bolts of cognitive dissonance in the form of back to back speeches by Obama and John Boner and the contrast was striking. Obama once again – in spirit if not tone – laid out a generous compromise and a willingness to give up some of his party’s hard fought ground in the interest of getting this non-issue resolved so we can move on to deal with the many pressing issues facing the country. Boner, on the other hand, hewed tightly to the party line; taxes, taxes, taxes, spending, spending, out-of-control spending, taxes, taxes, taxes…” As much as Obama made sense, Boner kept shoveling from the same pile of bullshit, trying his best to stoke the flames of irrational anger, resentment, ignorance and crippling fear currently running amuck across the country.
I know it’s normal for politicians to bend the truth to whatever shape best suits them – if we’re honest, both of these guys are masters of the prestidigitation of obfuscation and partisan hypnosis. But really, Boner, to continue to lay the current deficit and budget situation at the feet of Obama is akin to hinting to your kids that there really might be monsters under the bed – it’s a twisted fairy tale; one of the great lies of our time, perpetrated by you, Cantor, McConnell and the incoherent chorus of pinheads at Faux News in your desperate attempt to win in 2012, no matter the consequences to the rest of us. “Well, we had to destroy the village in order to save it…”
Let’s pull the curtain to one side here for a minute and lash together a few raw facts. Yesterday the New York Times – using data from the congressional budget office – published an analysis of the contributions to the deficit by both Obama in his first two years and that semi-retired buckaroo who used to inhabit the White House, George Dubbya Bush during his painful reign over the previous eight years. It calculates that Obama – by cutting some defense spending – has achieved a saving of 126 billion dollars and Bush saved nothing.
On the other hand, Bush increased defense spending - by virtue of one somewhat defensible intervention and one done to defend his Daddy’s honor – by nearly 1.5 trillion dollars. That’s not too surprising - terrrorists and all. So let’s move on to tax cuts as a contributor to the deficit. (And let’s try to clear the air of any misbegotten notion that these tax cuts “stimulated” the economy. Obviously they didn’t, begging the whole question before us today.) The Bush tax cuts totaled 1.8 trillion dollars. And again, as we noted, their efficacy as stimulus is deeply questionable. Obama also cut taxes – something rarely, if ever, spoken of – a total of 425 billion dollars.
Well, you might ask, how about all the other stuff – you know – the wasteful spending so often mentioned by government critics - discretionary spending? Well policies supported by George II spent 600 billion and Obama about 300 billion. But now we get to the fun stuff – the stuff that the angry mobs are always worked up about -the stimulus / bail-out / TARP money. Most of the time the republicans and Boner pin the TARP money decision on Obama – not surprising since the program mostly took place after he was elected and it’s in the republican’s best interest to blame him. But what our short attention span voters have forgotten is that the whole TARP program was created and set in motion during the Bush administration. That’s another 225 billion attributable to him.
OK, how about that damned health care law that the borderline communist Nancy Pelosi and her thieving horde pushed through in 2009? Huh? How about that? Oh shoot – you got me – that was 152 billion that Obama has to take the blame for. Of course, Bush’s gift to the pharmaceutical industry – the prescription drug benefit changes to medi-care – cost 180 billion so I’m saying that’s a toss -up.
Lastly, there is the stimulus itself, begun by Bush and continued under Obama: that's another push – more or less 700 billion each. The grand totals? Bush – 5 trillion, Obama - 1.5 trillion. Game over...
I know, I know, John – we can’t be confusing the simple folk with all kinda random and confusing facts like this. Their heads will explode if they’re exposed to anything more complicated than The Bachelorette. But I gotta say, you and your ridiculous selection of ties and your “I’ve just been to the Bahamas” tan, standing up in front of cameras as you did last night and spewing out this outrageous vomit of outright lies and abracadabra makes me sick. Your touching tale of being a small business owner in Ohio, as if you are capable of having any empathy for the people who you are knee-capping by your “let them eat cake” policy stand is transparently phony. To say that Obama has offered nothing when the deal was 3 dollars of cuts for every dollar of revenue is blatantly disingenuous and an insult to the intelligence of every America capable of adding 2+2.
If the democrats cave to this crap it will be a generation before they sit in the White House again. And that’s exactly what they’ll deserve.
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