If the media were truly even-handed, this clip would get more play than the video of Mitt Romney’s inelegant answer to a question at a Florida fundraiser:
The president who, in his first days in office promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term, says he doesn’t know how high the federal debt is today, unaware then that it increased by a greater amount in his three years and eight months in office than it did in his predecessor’s eight full years in office. Bear in mind that Obama called $9 trillion dollars in debt “irresponsible” and “unpatriotic“.
As per my previous post, this clip comes from John Hinderaker; in his commentary on the video, he called Obama “a world-class liar” adding that “we’d better hope he is a world class liar, because if he really has no idea what the national debt is, we are in even worse trouble.”
It really does seem that these seven words describe the incumbent, An Unserious President In Seriously Perilous Times.
FYI: Some people think that Obama said that Obama was responding to a question about what the debt was when h took office. I heard it as Letterman asking about the debt today.*
UPDATE: Stephen Hayes calls this “one of the most dishonest performances from this president in recent memory, and yet it has generated virtually no attention from a mainstream media.”
Hayes concludes his piece, “There are dozens of interesting questions of Obama and his campaign for reporters curious enough to ask them.” Read the whole thing. In this post, I mock the president for his cluelessness; Hayes takes apart his argument bit by bit.
UP-UPDATE: Here’s your answer, Mr. President, $16,015,769,788,215.80. At least that’s what it was two weeks ago:
The United States Treasury reports that the total public outstanding debt is: $16,015,769,788,215.80. This is the first time in American history debt has eclipsed the $16 trillion mark.
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*Stephen Hayes was also confused:
Letterman’s question wasn’t precise. Was he talking about the debt as it registered on the debt clock at the Republican convention? Or, picking up on Obama’s answer, when Clinton left office? When Obama came to office? The question was ambiguous, but Obama, rather than clarify, simply chose not to answer it.
While there is a ton of BS in that clip, the thing that irks me the most is the outright lie that Bill Clinton ran a surplus. It irks me so badly b/c even most conservatives fail to call it out as the lie that it is. The deficit was indeed cut during the waning years of the Clinton Administration (a good thing indeed) but there was no surplus. The US has run deficits every year since 1957. Why do conservatives let this slide? To the resident trolls, who I’m certain will have something to say for my daring to disparage the Clinton myth, kindly check the following US Treasury site before you post: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo4.htm
Someone actually asked Obama about the debt? I’m shocked.
Rattlenake, you and me both. And am impressed the a man who seems to flack for the Democrats would do it. This blogger asks, “Why did Letterman broach this subject?” His short analysis is well worth your time.
Has Obama been asked a critical question by an MFM journalist at all in the last month?
What happens when a real journalist asks the Obama Politburo a real question.
Jake Tapper: “Why was security at the Benghazi consulate non-existent?”
Jay Carney: “Gosh, we don’t know. Ask the State Department.”
I really do think BHO is clueless, like Tracey Jordan clueless. Anything that gets in the way of golf, beer or his celebrity lackies is just a distraction.
“A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” – Everett Dirksen (purported)
“A trillion here, a trillion there…” – Barack Obama
“A zillion here, a zillion there…” – Barack Obama, 2016
If the media was even half honest they would make a stink about this, but I am pretty convinced the Obama campaign should be cutting them checks, because they are so in the bag for Obama they don’t even know how to fake covering him honestly anymore.
but he’s so dreeeaaamy / obamabot wetting himself
It is electoral malpractice for the Romney campaign not to seize this incidents. “President Obama says he doesn’t know how big the debt is, and that the debt ‘doesn’t matter in the short term.’ Mr. President, the debt is over sixteen trillion dollars… over 53,000 dollars for every man woman and child in America. Six trillion of that accrued on your watch. And yes, it *does*matter.”
I begin to think Romney either doesn’t want or doesn’t deserve to win this thing if he can’t hit a low-and-slow pitch like this.
This was a carefully choreographed campaign performance, nothing more and Letterman was undoubtedly only too happy to oblige. Notice Letterman’s prompting “That means extra money…” What is happening here is that Obama and Letterman are hoping that viewers don’t know the difference between national deficit and national debt. The two are very, very different.
Let’s face it, V – we nominated the wrong guy. Yet we were constantly told by both the MSM and the Beltway Old Guard GOP that Mitt was the ONLY guy who could beat The Kenyan.
May this be a lesson to all of us – next time, let’s get a REAL conservative. That is, if there is a next time.
Regards,
Peter H.
Ignatius; I was thinking the same thing – most folks don’t know the difference between national debt and national deficit – only I think Obama, himself, might be confusing the two.
I love reading the local liberals’ posts on the deficit/debt. Most think GWB ran up the $10 trillion all on his own. Most liberals will watch this clip and nod approvingly.
Barack Obama is either dumb as a brick or lying; I believe he’s lying. He knows the debt, but didn’t want to say the truth on national television.
Peter H, the GOP Establishment got the candidate the GOP Establishment wanted. Let them choke on their defeat.