Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that “the buck stops here.” Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”
- Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), March 20, 2006
John Kerry said that this quote from Senator Obama in 2006 about raising the debt ceiling then is not important. He said that it was a symbolic statement by the Senator from Illinois, because everyone knew, per John Kerry, that the vote would be to lift the debt ceiling. So , per John Kerry, the vote of Senator Obama didn’t matter and didn’t change anything.
What does that tell us about how Congress does business? At least in the case of Democrats then, we can never go back to what they said or how they voted, because there is always going to be some reason why the position they took on an issue then does not apply today.