In introducing his new budget director Tuesday, President Obama just couldn’t help himself: He had to take yet another swipe at George W. Bush.
Jack Lew, who had the same job under Bill Clinton, “handed the [Bush] administration a record $236 billion budget surplus,” Obama said. “The day I took office, eight years later, America faced a record $1.3 trillion deficit.”
Sheesh! Obama suffers from no audac ity deficit — that’s for sure.
Because if he really cared about Bush’s red ink, he wouldn’t be creating multiples more of it himself.
Fact is, since Obama took office, the national debt is up a whopping $2.4 trillion; it now sits at a stunning $13 trillion-plus.
The current-year deficit, just nine months in, already topped $1 trillion. That’s not how much he’s spent, but how much he’s overspent revenues.
And get this: By 2020, based on the president’s current plans, Washington will owe so much that interest alone will run a cool $1 trillion a year. Just interest!
So what does Obama plan to do about it? Well, he’s convened a deficit-reduction panel to suggest ideas — after the November elections. How nice.
And he’s criticizing Bush?
Let’s face it: An OMB director doesn’t decide budgets; only the president and Congress do. So far, neither has lifted a finger to stem the bleeding.
Obama — and his pals on Capitol Hill — need to look in the mirror before blaming Bush. Again.