Barack Obama to the Congress on the budget: “It’s time to act like adults”

  While Americans are struggling, gas prices are rising, and the Congress is arguing over the 2011 budget, Barack Obama somehow found the time to leave Washington to attend a campaign fundraiser. During his speech before this event Barack Obama castigated the Congress, telling them it was time for them to start acting like adults:

At a time when you are struggling to pay your bills and meet your responsibilities, the least we can do to meet our responsibilities is produce a budget. That is not too much to ask for. That is what the American people expect of us, that’s what they deserve. You want everybody to act like adults, quit playing games and realize it is not my way or the highway

  He went on to say that “you can’t always get your way.” And called for the Congress to compromise. Interesting, indeed. Earlier Barack Obama stated that the defunding of Planned Parenthood and the removal of the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gasses were non-negotiable. Apparently Barack Obama feels as if yes, the Democrats can get their way on these issues so when Barack Obama says that it is time to act like adults and when Barack Obama states that “you can’t always get your way” it seems evident to me that he is addressing the Republicans more so than he is addressing the Democrats.

  So while Barack Obama ridicules the Republicans as he plays the father figure (did I mention he was on the campaign trail and not in Washington helping to lead the Congress through this contentious battle?) I think it should be mentioned once again that we would not be in this position in the first  place if the Democrat controlled Congress had acted like adults before the 2010 election and had passed a budget when they should have. The Democrats could have had anything they wanted before the election but they were too fearful to pass a budget, opting instead to punt it to the new Congress because they knew the Republicans would be in charge and they could blame any entitlement cutting budget on the Republicans because they simply didn’t have the balls to do it themselves.

  The Democrats knew they were in trouble before the election and they also knew they were caught between a rock and a hard place, so in order to minimize their loses they decided they would be better off not to address the budget before the election. If they had passed a budget before the election and that budget included the necessary cuts they would have further alienated their base. Their base would have stayed home and their loses would have been greater.

  However, if the Democrats passed a budget with spending increases to appease their base they would have alienated middle Americans who were already leaving the party in drones over the out of control spending. So while Barack Obama ridicules Republicans for playing political games with the budget he would do well to remember that it was the Democrat led Congress who began this game for political gain in the first place.

  Barack Obama stated at this event that the Congress needed to meet its responsibility and pass a budget, he said the American people deserve it and that is wasn’t too much to ask for. I agree, but where was this talk last year when the budget should have been passed? When the Democrats were acting like sacred children on the budget Barack Obama was nowhere to be found.

  Now suddenly Barack Obama is indignant with the Congress? It is obvious that political games are being played–as Barack Obama stated–but it is equally obvious that it is the Democrats who started this game when they punted on the budget in order to let the Republicans (adults) make the tough choices they were to afraid to make, figuring they could use this as a political issue in 2012.

  Barack Obama is right; it is time to compromise. When the Democrats gained power they began to run around like children in a candy shop, so the nation attempted to correct this spending problem by sending in the adults last November. The Republicans won the election and we have been told that elections have consequences. Republicans were sent to Washington to cut spending and now it is time for the Democrats to compromise with the Republicans. After all, Democrats need to remember: “you can’t always get your way.”