OPINION:
The debt-ceiling issue gave President Obama the opportunity to use a prime-time speech to promote his presidential campaign. He also assumed his critic-in-chief role to repeat his blame tirade against George W. Bush, Republicans and those who work to achieve wealth.
Speaker of the House John A. Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had, in fact, reached an agreement on the debt limit last week, but Mr. Obama, feeling neglected, became the fly in the ointment and rejected the plan. He was also disingenuous when he claimed it was inexcusable for Republicans not to approve plans to raise the debt ceiling. The issue for Republicans was the danger of increasing the debt without spending cuts or plans to control future spending.
The fact is, both then-Sen. Obama and Mr. Reid, along with many other Democrats, voted against raising the debt ceiling when Mr. Bush was president. Mr. Obama also spoke of the need for compromise. Really? Republicans were totally excluded from input in the controversial health care bill. And at a health care meeting that Mr. Obama invited Republicans to attend - aside from rejecting their ideas - he gave an abrasive put-down to Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, essentially saying, “I won, and you lost.”
Mr. Obama is a man with a big ego, and his idea of compromise is, “Do it my way.” The massive debt accumulated under Mr. Obama and the Democrats needs to be addressed to control present and future spending. The most pressing need is to reduce the size of government and its burden on taxpayers.
MARVIN L. HOOVIS
Centerville, Mass.
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