Your Karma Ran Over My Obama

The Hill newspaper reports that as Congress comes back into session after a forty day recess, the Senate has to start moving on legislation to raise the nation's debt limit to a record $12.1 trillion.

Democrats in control of Congress, including then-Sen. Obama (Ill.), blasted President George W. Bush for failing to contain spending when he oversaw increased deficits and raised the debt ceiling.

“Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren,” Obama said in a 2006 floor speech that preceded a Senate vote to extend the debt limit. “America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.”

Because the federal government spends more money than it takes in every single year, it must raise the amount of debt it's allowed to hold under federal law every single year.

When President Bush was in the White House and Republicans controlled Congress, Democrats would push for more federal spending, but then complain about the debt ceiling vote, blaming the mounting debt on tax cuts. When Democrats took control of Congress, they kept pushing spending higher, and Republicans complained long and loud on the day of the debt ceiling vote. This is despite many of those Republicans supporting the out-of-control spending that required the debt increase in the first place.

In a show of abject political grandstanding, Barack Obama voted against raising the debt ceiling as a U.S. Senator. I'm sure his rhetoric will cool down a little after he's increased the federal deficit at a record pace.