Was the President too harsh? WHAT'S YOUR OPINION? Here's mine:
The Washington Post website now has transcripts of today's remarkable Q and A between the House Republican Conference and President Barack Obama.
Of all the outrageous Republican talking points the President rebutted with unerring detail, the most outrageous came from the mouth of Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX). He had the nerve to try this totally crazy attack on the President:
"(W)hat were the old annual deficits under Republicans have now become the monthly deficits under Democrats. The national debt has increased 30 percent."
The President snapped back, "(T)hat's factually just not true, and YOU KNOW IT'S NOT TRUE."
"And what is true is that we came in already with a $1.3 trillion deficit before I had passed any law. What is true is, we came in with $8 trillion worth of debt over the next decade. Had nothing to do with anything that we had done. It had to do with the fact that in 2000, when there was a budget surplus of $200 billion, you had a Republican administration and a Republican Congress, and we had two tax cuts that weren't paid for, you had a prescription drug plan -- the biggest entitlement plan, by the way, in several decades -- that was passed, without it being paid for, you had two wars that were done through supplementals, and then you had $3 trillion projected because of the lost revenue of this recession. That's $8 trillion. Now, we increased it by $1 trillion because of the spending that we had to make on the stimulus. I am happy to have any independent factchecker out there take a look at your presentation versus mine in terms of the accuracy of what I just said."
When I saw Obama say that this afternoon on MSNBC's full coverage of the event, I thought at first the President was being a bit harsh. "You KNOW that's not true"? How could the President know what's inside an empty right-wing head?
But later, on a network that gave Hensarling a forum without broadcasting the actual Q and A, I learned that Hensarling is the second-ranking Republican on the House budget committee! Of course he MUST have known what he said was infinitely far from the truth. I then realized that the President was quite correct in confronting him, if only because the Republican apparently had underestimated the President's knowledge and intellect abysmally.
But in his later interview (with PBS iirc), Hensarling stood by every foolish thing he had said, and referred viewers to his website.
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From
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012902848_pf.html :
"Friday, January 29, 2010; 2:21 PM
REP. JEB HENSARLING (R-TEX.):
... We know that under current law that government -- the cost of government is due to grow from 20 percent of our economy to 40 percent of our economy right about the time our children are leaving college and getting that first job. Mr. President, shortly after that conversation a year ago, the Republicans proposed a budget that ensured that government did not grow beyond the historical standard of 20 percent of GDP. It was a budget that actually froze immediately non-defense discretionary spending. It spent $5 trillion less than ultimately what was enacted into law. And unfortunately, I believe that budget was ignored. And since that budget was ignored, what were the old annual deficits under Republicans have now become the monthly deficits under Democrats. The national debt has increased 30 percent. Now, Mr. President, I know you believe ... the spending is necessary due to the recession. ... Surely you don't believe 10 years from now we will still be mired in this recession. It proposed new entitlement spending and moved the -- the cost of government to almost 24.5 percent of the economy. Now, very soon, Mr. President, you're due to submit a new budget and my question . . .
OBAMA: Jim (sic), I know there's a question in there somewhere, because you're making a whole bunch of assertions, half of which I disagree with. (LAUGHTER) And I'm having to sit here listening to them. At some point, I know you're going to let me answer.
...
HENSARLING: You are soon to submit a new budget, Mr. President. Will that new budget, like your old budget, triple the national debt and continue to take us down the path of increasing the cost of government to almost 25 percent of our economy? That's the question, Mr. President.
OBAMA: All right. Jim (sic), with all due respect, I've just got to take this last question as an example of how it's very hard to have the kind of bipartisan work that we're going to do, because the whole question was structured as a talking point for running -- running a campaign. Now, look, let's talk about the budget, once again, because I'll go through it with you line by line. The fact of the matter is, is that when we came into office, the deficit was $1.3 trillion. $1.3 trillion. So -- so when you say that suddenly I've got a monthly budget that is higher than the annual -- or a monthly deficit that's higher than the annual deficit left by Republicans, that's factually just not true, and you know it's not true. And what is true is that we came in already with a $1.3 trillion deficit before I had passed any law. What is true is, we came in with $8 trillion worth of debt over the next decade. Had nothing to do with anything that we had done. It had to do with the fact that in 2000, when there was a budget surplus of $200 billion, you had a Republican administration and a Republican Congress, and we had two tax cuts that weren't paid for, you had a prescription drug plan -- the biggest entitlement plan, by the way, in several decades -- that was passed, without it being paid for, you had two wars that were done through supplementals, and then you had $3 trillion projected because of the lost revenue of this recession. That's $8 trillion. Now, we increased it by $1 trillion because of the spending that we had to make on the stimulus. I am happy to have any independent factchecker out there take a look at your presentation versus mine in terms of the accuracy of what I just said....
OBAMA: Now, going forward, here's the deal. ... The major driver of our long-term liabilities, everybody here knows, is Medicare and Medicaid and our health care spending. Nothing comes close. ... Medicare and Medicaid, massive problem down the road. That's where -- that's -- that's going to be what our children have to worry about. ..."
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