Posted on 06/29/2011 4:10:42 AM PDT by Libloather
Dems fault Obama for not using bully pulpit
By Alexander Bolton - 06/29/11 05:45 AM ET
Senate Democrats are accusing President Obama of failing to use his bully pulpit effectively in the debt-ceiling fight.
They say most people are confused about the issue and don’t understand they’d face an economic catastrophe if the $14.3 trillion ceiling isn’t raised by Aug. 2.
While Democratic lawmakers share some of the blame, they say Obama has not used his media power aggressively enough to educate voters about the complex issue, and that this has given leverage to Republicans in negotiations on a deficit-reduction package that would be paired with legislation raising the borrowing limit.
“I think he’s done an OK job but it’s a struggle because it’s complicated,” said Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), a member of the Budget Committee. “He should use the bully pulpit every single day. He could do more.”
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), the former chairman of the Budget Committee, said the public has a “lack of knowledge” about the debt limit.
Lautenberg said “the leadership has to be more outspoken and make the case.”
“This is the biggest courtroom in the world, and you can’t get a verdict that is positive without making the argument,” he said.
Lawmakers have been more critical in private.
One senior Democratic senator called the White House leadership on framing the debt-ceiling debate “feckless” and said he couldn’t understand why Obama hasn’t been more outspoken in calling for action.
A Democratic senator facing a tough reelection next year said it would be “disappointing” if Obama does not call out Republican leaders in the next few days for playing “Russian roulette” with the economy.
Obama might hear some of those concerns Wednesday, when he is scheduled to meet with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), Senate Democratic Policy Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (Wash.).
Business leaders and economists have warned the economy will be thrown into a tailspin if the borrowing limit isn’t raised, but polls consistently show the public opposes raising the debt ceiling.
A recent Associated Press-GfK poll showed that 41 percent of the public opposed raising the debt ceiling, while 38 percent supported doing so.
Obama said two weeks ago during an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show that the nation’s creditworthiness is “the underpinning of a global financial system” and failure to extend borrowing authority “could actually have a reprise of a financial crisis.”
Lawmakers say Obama should make this point repeatedly and emphatically, and that it would help if he were to travel around the country putting pressure on GOP lawmakers.
“I think everyone needs to do a better job of explaining to the American people what it means to raise the debt ceiling,” Reid said Tuesday.
Reid said the public needs to understand that raising the debt ceiling will allow the federal government “to pay our bills we already accrued” and that it does not just open the door to more spending.
Republicans have tried to enhance their leverage in deficit-reduction negotiations by arguing that failure to raise the debt limit would not necessarily result in a default.
And Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) portrayed the debt-limit increase as an issue raised by the president, not as an impending fiscal necessity.
“The president makes the decision — makes the determination as to whether or not raising the debt ceiling is necessary. He has said that it is, and that’s why we’re having this discussion,” McConnell said.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl (Ariz.) argued Tuesday that the debt limit does not necessarily have to be raised by Aug. 2, as administration officials have claimed.
By casting the debt-limit increase as a Democratic instead of a national priority, Republicans have felt confident in taking a hard-line stance in negotiations with the other party.
While Democratic sources say their leaders have agreed to nearly $1 trillion in spending cuts, Republican negotiators have refused to entertain the prospect of ending special tax breaks to raise revenues.
Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future, a liberal advocacy group, likened the debt talks to a game of chicken, in which two cars race toward each other on a one-lane road.
He said Republicans are confident that Obama will yield because he readily made concessions in December to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and in April to avoid a government shutdown.
“Republicans believe they’ve created a credible threat that they’re willing to go to the wall,” he said.
But a Democratic leadership aide said Republicans will ultimately agree to a deal because they privately admit that a default would be too damaging to the economy.
“Republicans know they can’t take it all the way to a default because they will unquestionably be blamed for it, more than they would have been for a government shutdown,” said the aide. “Their fingerprints will be all over a catastrophic situation.”
The 10-year rise in interest expense would be $4.9 trillion higher under "normalized" rates than under the current cost of borrowing. Compare that to the $2 trillion estimate of what the current talks about long-term deficit reduction may produce, and it becomes obvious that the gains from the current deficit-reduction efforts could be wiped out by normalization in the bond market.
The only catastrophe would be that we would have to stop spending money to keep the government beast fed. Parks would shut down, a bunch of bureaucrats would be laid off. But we have enough for debt service and defense. And we’ll reach a compromise before any Medicare or Social Security payments would get stopped later in the year. I’m more and more of the opinion that we should not raise the ceiling.
Obama exercises the bullsh!# pulpit.
I expect the dims to play the card of no SS checks and no military pay checks. That is just what they do. They don’t want to cut anything from their voters.
It’s like telling your credit card company that, unless they raise your credit limit, you will default on the interest on your previously incurred debt.
What they should be telling you is what we should be telling Congress: find places to cut spending so that you can afford your interest payments without incurring new debt. If any entity needs to borrow to make interest payments, that entity is one step from serious trouble - bankruptcy in private entities, complete economic, social, and civic breakdown, in the case of governments.
DEFUND socialist collectives, foreign and domestic. Why are we paying for our own implosion?
Dems - The people are idiots and do not understand... We have to lead them by the nose.....
Nope, sorry assclowns, we are not confused and we really do understand. The Federal Government is BROKE. It has spent this Nation into a 14 TRILLION dollar hole. It has squandered our childrens and grand childrens future. And you the Democrat Party want to screw us even more with additonal debt and new taxes. Well FRACK YOU. We are done. You will do it our way from now on or you will be unemployed. That goes for the RINO’s also..........
Let's tentatively schedule our ‘end of the world’ party for August 2, although Geitner could move it again.
Progressives on MSNBC and in the House want a big showdown on this similar to 1995 where Obama calls on Republicans to ‘stop holding the country hostage’ and calls for ‘shared sacrifice’ where ‘the rich pay their fair share’ ...I can do this in my sleep now :) They either want Republicans to cave or to actually see the economic Apocalypse that they imagine happening with Republicans getting the blame and Democrats called on to fix it with more stimulus jobs bills and Pelosi as speaker again. (they are dreamers.) In fact another thread popped up that takes up the same theme.
(Socialist) Bernie Sanders: Make the Rich Pay Off the Deficit (Because they caused it?)
Bernie is definitely fun to watch because he always looks/sounds out-raged when talking. Democrats big problem is that raising the debt ceiling is even more unpopular than ever, even they dont want to vote for it. Should be a fun ride.
Here is an interesting take on the thinking of all sides in this debt limit debate:http://floydreports.com/americans-will-see-if-republicans-are-any-different-than-democrats/
IF the debt ceiling is raised without obtaining an equal amount in spending cuts, the negative impact to the value of the dollar will exacerbate the debt situation.
BUT, that’s ok w Obama, because he’s trying to destroy America anyway.
They say most people are confused about the issue and don’t understand they’d face an economic catastrophe if the $14.3 trillion ceiling isn’t raised by Aug. 2.
NO we face a catastrophe if the debt limit IS raised.
STOP SPENDING on unconstitutional things.
The voters took the keys and bully pulpit away from hussein in Nov 2010.
As much as he’s lying, it’s still not enough for them.
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