President Obama's Debt Ceiling Speech : Did He Really Say That?
71Dateline the Border Fort: July 25, 2011. Every TV network carries President Barack Hussein Obama's speech to the nation (again) on the debt ceiling standoff. You know, the situation he and most of the media call a "crisis"...one, as it happens, of his own making, since continues to simply want what he wants (a blank check, never mind the nation's sea of red ink). His rhetoric is childish. The man in the Oval Office even threatened House Majority Leader Eric Cantor a couple of weeks ago with these words:
"Eric, don't call my bluff. I'm going to the American people on this."
Guess what? If you're going to run a bluff, telling the opponent across the table is likely not the most effective strategy. At least, it never worked for me during a friendly nickel ante game of poker, back in the day. Eric and the rest of the House Republicans (Speaker of the House John Boehner very much included) did indeed call his bluff, refusing to raise the debt ceiling without real matching cuts in spending while remaining adamant against raising taxes.
Yesterday's speech was Obama's attempt to deliver on his promise to stir up "the folks out there", who are way too stupid to understand the issues at stake until the Explainer in Chief tells them (us) what to think. At least, he must think we're that dense, judging by one passage in this particular teleprompter session. No one else seems to have noticed, but it raised my hackles so fast my hat fell off:
"Now, what makes today’s stalemate so dangerous is that it has been tied to something known as the debt ceiling – a term that most people outside of Washington have probably never heard of before." (Emphasis mine.)
You have got. To. Be. Kidding. Me.
But of course you're not. He really did say that. Although what I heard was, "You hillbillies are the dumbest bunch of hayseeds on God's green Earth, and I'm about to set y'all up to phone- slam this idiot Congress about the head and shoulders until I get what I want. Did I mention how dumb y'all are?"
The arrogance and condescension were...okay, they were just classical Obama, nothing really new to see here, move along, people.
How ignorant of the debt ceiling situation are we as a nation, really? Consider this:
1. Googling "debt ceiling" just now produced 24,100,000 results.
2. The issue isn't even that challenging to comprehend. Spend more than you take in, go broke, whether you're a working man or the federal government. How tough is that? All the rest is smoke and mirrors, sleight of hand, fib and flub. Nothing to it, really.
2. Vast numbers of related cartoons, always a sure way to catch the eye of the public for those of us who prefer comics to boring text, have been getting "out there" since before last Easter.
Check 'em out.
Hey, when "us folks out here" start posting unbearably darling photos of cute kitty cats peering through the debt ceiling, you know we've "heard of it before today".
Consider this, Mr. President: Come November 2012, we ignorant folks will be going to the polls to produce a result called a one term President which you probably never heard of before. Not in your narcissistic little heart of hearts, you didn't, betcha betcha. Once the numbers are in and your liberal tax-and-spend policies have lost in a landslide, we'll be back with one final question for Your Lame Duckiness:
Can you hear us now?
Remember in November 2012.
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Illegal? Remember that old saying, "If you love sausage or the the law, don't ever watch either one being made." Legal is what they say it is--or at least, so they think.
Of course, he wants new taxes to pay for at least part of it. You know, to save wear and tear on the printing presses.
Fred, my biggest butt burn right now is the supposed budget cuts. The one thing they fail to do is tell us what was supposedly cut out of the budget. Without this knowledge we have no way of knowing if they were feeding us more BS or really did cut something out of the budget. They must really think we are all stupid.
Yes, Mike, I'm pretty sure they really do.
Well, judging by some of the crooks we vote into office, they may be correct.
Nah. Temporary insanity, maybe momentarily ignorant. Not stupid.
They are cutting VA benefits and SS. That is all. That is what I can figure out. Obama has called a meeting of the VA and veteran groups. He is going to be telling them what was cut. Like he knows.(HEAVY SARCASM) They really need to make a sarcasm font.
Becky, I don't quite understand your post. Who's cutting benefits? There's no plan whatsoever (yet) that even two of the three (Obama, Boehner, Reid) have agreed MIGHT have a chance of overall acceptance by both Congress and the President. So...? (No sarcasm.)
I would doubt that this close to election time anyone would dream of touching SS, Medicare, or Veterans benefits. That would be political suicide. Maybe, just maybe they will be smart enough to eliminate the mating habits of butter flys study before they touch any of these programs.
Normally, I'd be 100% certain you have that right. As nuts as things have gotten this year...well, those butterfly mating habits have some powerful lobbyists on their side from what I hear.
What I'd REALLY like to see is the steps taken to eliminate the I.R.S. and institute the Fair Tax Plan.
This is a link to what I am talking about.
Oh, that. Good link--thanks--but nothing more than Obama the Spookifier amping up the Terror Tactics. Not one specific program proposal, not one specific, "This WILL happen," nada. Zilch.
Ain't squat, Becky. The tactic is the lowest of the low, beyond question. But that's ALL it is. No more meat to it than the Nigerian scammer (on Frog Prince's Hub) who tried to threaten him with the FBI if he didn't send money to the dude.
Only difference is, this one's a Kenyan scammer. Half-Kenyan, that is. ALL scammer.
Maybe he studied in Nigeria.
ROFLOL Love this and the 'toons!
And you're so right.
Fred - I was just on another Hub about this so let me be an echo chamber.
"Obama is in over his head, way over his head. When he said, "This is no way to run the nation" I was appalled. That came out of the mouth of a man that has never run anything but his mouth. He's not a leader. He might like to organize communities to be rabble rousers and practice class warfare. That seems all he is really good at. He's the biggest mistake the voters of this nation have ever made."
The Frog
Great post Ghost, I think if it weren't for all those hilarious cartoons, I would cry in my beer. I have to say it...those Republican's who voted for him out of a deranged feel good moment, “you did this, you helped make a bigger mockery of our country.” I hold my head down in shame, it is us who have to roll our sleeves up farther, work harder and sacrifice more. Thanks for sharing this.
Ghost, THANK YOU for this hub and making me laugh my butt off...even though it IS a very sad situation that this POTUS has created....
I also heard the "don't call my bluff" remark and almost shot my morning coffee right out my nose.
Unbelievable!!! the whole thing is.
I vote UP, funny useful and awesome!!
Thanks, Beth.
Jim: That sums it right up. Thanks for the echo chamber.
Jason: Appreciate the post. On a positive, highly encouraging note, I'm encountering more and more disillusioned folks these days who voted for Obama in '08 but who have definitely seen the light. And not just Republicans, but Independents and even Democrats as well. He's going to be facing a much-awakened electorate in 2012.
CMerritt: BTAT! (That's an acronym I came up with several decades ago. Stands for "Both Things Are True". In this case, hilarious cartoons and sad situation.)
Also, yeah. I've run a bluff or two in my day--who hasn't, if they've managed to survive past high school? But I don't EVER recall saying,"Don't call my bluff", to ANYONE, EVER. That remark is pretty much a guarantee to have the other guy take up the challenge and rearrange your face.
Metaphorically speaking in this case, of course.
I am not American so I have mixed feelings about your President. But it seems to me that spending more will be MORE of a problem. It's like using one credit card to pay the other credit card debt and the cycle goes on and before you realize it, your interest on both cards keep going up and you are forever in debt that you can't seem to get out of. Really not the answer.
Every one knows that when you are in debt and you have expenses and demands, you cut your budget to reduce spending while you pay your debts to get your life in balance again.
This has now gone beyond the pale. When we have people in Washington who honestly believe that raising the debt ceiling and raising taxes is the answer to our dying economy it is time to get the hook and drag them off the stage.
Cardisa: See? You don't even live here, and you get it--but we are just way too dumb to understand! (Or so he thinks.)
BPop: Working on it.
I refuse to watch that person on TV. Hence, I didn't see nor hear him make that comment.
Good thing - the TV's relatively new and I wouldn't want it to have a shoe sticking out of the screen.
Understood. The "thank goodness I missed the broadcast and thereby saved my shoe" response is definitely gaining traction here.
Did you get the new cartoon I sent you? I thought it would fit right in with this hub.
Got the "Fair Tax" one, if that's the one you mean--but can'd do much with it at the moment. NOW the CURRENT email address I'm using has (not always but sometimes) a "picture problem".
The "ONE" we have all been waiting for makes some rather extraordinary remarks, like recently speaking to the racists group LA RAZA, ( dedicated to flying the Mexican flag in USA, and taking the southwest back to Mexico)wherein he told them his desire to bypass Congress and just do things on his own. Like raising the debt ceiling and waiving his magic wand and making all illegals, legal. When does he begin appearing in public with his jeweled crown on his head and his purple king robes?
Oh, he's made many extraordinary remarks indeed. Even the appearance he made in Tucson following Jared Loughner's shooting rampage had more the feel of a rock concert than it did an occasion of the solemnity the situation required.
It sounds like he may have a bit of a problem with his purple king robes. Rumor has it they were sent to the dry cleaners, but the dry cleaners went out of business, the robes disappeared, and he can't afford a replacement set till the debt ceiling is raised....
Hm. Should be another cartoon in that image somewhere....
Ghostie,
great as usual the toons made me laugh when I needed it
TH
Thanks. I like the debt ceiling cat the best, but some of the others aren't bad!
kd4rvb 10 months ago
So raising the debt ceiling supposedly means Congress can just print the money they need to pay the bills. Isn't counterfeiting illegal? I can't believe he said it either, thanks for speaking up.