Did the President address the spending question? No. Instead, he waited for the next question about the national debt, which has increased 50 percent since he took office. Then came the familiar litany of why hes not responsible for Washingtons overspending or the countrys abysmal fiscal situation:
"When I came into office, I inherited the biggest deficit in our history. And over the last four years, the deficit has gone up, but ninety percent of that is as a consequence of two wars that werent paid for, as a consequence of tax cuts that werent paid for, a prescription drug plan that was not paid for, and then the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression."
Hold on. In FY 2007, well into the wars, and after the tax cuts and the prescription drug plan were passed, the deficit was $160.7 billion. By FY 2008, it had reached $458.6 billion. The deficit was increasing as Obama came into office, mainly driven by the recession. But his Administrations massive stimulus billemergency actions as he calls itexacerbated matters by sending spending into overdrive and led to a $1.4 trillion deficit for FY 2009.
And what good did these "
emergency" actions do?
Obama continues to embrace big government, tax hikes, and failed Keynesian stimulus spending policiespackaged as a balanced approachwhile unemployment still sits above 8 percent and Taxmageddons threat suffocates job creation prospects.
Obama also dusted off a claim that The Heritage Foundation and others have put to rest: that under his Administration, the federal government has grown at a slower pace than at any time since Dwight Eisenhower.
That claim doesnt account for the stimulus bill, which sent spending in 2009 to a record 25.2 percent of the economy. Total spending will slow in 2012 and over the next few years only because Republicans insisted on spending caps and cuts to accompany debt limit hikes in last years deal.
President Obama Denies Responsibility Again
