Among President Obama’s rhetorical skills is an impressive mastery of lip service. He displayed it last week when he spoke to the Business Roundtable, the lobby for big business. And he did so without betraying even a hint that his words were bunk.
HOUSE SPEAKER JOHN BOEHNER, PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
NEWSCOM
In this case, he was paying lip service to the notion that—contrary to what he called “my reputation”—he’s for spending cuts to reduce the deficit and to secure a bipartisan deal to avert the fiscal cliff on January 1. “We’re prepared to make some tough decisions when it comes to cutting spending,” he insisted.
The business moguls didn’t break into laughter, but they should have. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell did when he heard the president’s plan for a fiscal cliff agreement. Serious spending cuts, meaningful reforms, even modest restraint—those are missing from the Obama plan. And not surprisingly.
When Democrats controlled Congress with large majorities in his first two years as president, Obama spent lavishly. The deficit soared past $1 trillion a year and has stayed there. Federal spending reached 25 percent of GDP, the highest level since World War II. Obama had an excuse. He was battling a deep recession. But when the downturn ended five months after he took office, he continued to spend.
His second two years were different. Republicans captured the House in 2010 and claimed a mandate to shrink spending. Obama resisted at every juncture. He opposed cuts—any cuts at all—in three continuing resolutions that kept the government operating in 2011. And he asked for a “clean” increase in the debt limit—that is, with no spending cuts attached. He acceded to cuts only under extreme duress.
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