White House spokesman claims that Barack Obama regrets voting against raising the debt ceiling in 2006

  Back in 2006, while George Bush was still the president, the Congress began debating the issue of whether or not to raise the debt ceiling. Barack Obama opposed–and voted against–raising the debt ceiling. But now as the Congress prepares once again to debate raising the debt ceiling under Barack Obama’s watch he has had a sudden change of heart and is now admitting that he was wr-wr-wrong.

  According to a White House spokesman:

Obama “thinks it was a mistake,” presidential spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. “He realizes now that raising the debt ceiling is so important to the health of this economy and the global economy that it is not a vote that, even when you are protesting an administration’s policies, you can play around with”

    Of course protesting an administration’s policies is precisely what Barack Obama was doing in 2006, but now as president he feels as if this is not a proper way to protest an administration. How convenient is that? But Barack Obama did more than just vote against raising the debt ceiling as he actually took to the floor of the Senate to call into question President Bush’s leadership qualities.

  Here is what Barack Obama had to say back in 2006:

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … 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.

  Back in 2006 raising the debt ceiling was a sign of poor leadership from the White House, it was a sign of reckless government spending, and indebted America to foreign countries. Back in 2006 the American people deserved better than having a president who refused to state “the buck stops here.” Back then Barack Obama probably would have said that he was “talking truth to power.”

  Now that it is Barack Obama’s “reckless spending” which is furthering our dependence on foreign governments to pay our debts he has decided that the issue of debating the debt ceiling should be off limits to those that are protesting the government. Now he feels as if it would be irresponsible NOT to raise the debt ceiling and let America default on her debts. Funny how that works, huh?

  Is this an admission by Barack Obama that he didn’t know what the hell he was talking about in 2006, or did he simply oppose raising the debt ceiling as a political protest in order to gain support from the Democrat base? It really doesn’t matter why he opposed raising the debt ceiling, because the truth is that he opposed quite a few of President Bush’s policies back then but continues them now as president.

  From GITMO to wiretapping, from the Bush tax cuts to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Barack Obama has continued policies which he claimed he was against. It is becoming quite clear that Barack Obama held these positions while in the Senate simply because he could. He was not the man who had to make the decisions; he simply waited for President Bush to make a decision and then he opposed those positions for political reasons. There was no thought behind his stated positions back then other than the fact that he was playing to his base by opposing the president no matter what the issue.

  And the issue of the debt ceiling is just the latest example of Barack Obama’s political posturing as a United States senator. While he was quite fond of making political protests against the Bush administration’s policies, he finds it unbecoming and improper for the Republicans to do the same now that he is the one charged with making the decisions.

  On this the president has held true to one campaign promise–we can see right through this hypocrisy, so this is one time when the American people can see how transparent this change of position really is.