[Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers Austan] Goolsbee should consult a floor speech delivered not so long ago by a certain member of Congress who offered this counterargument to automatic debt ceiling increases: "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. ... It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our government's reckless fiscal policies." Which die-hard Tea Party wingnut said that? It was none other than Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaking on the Senate floor in 2006 just before he voted against raising the debt ceiling.
Oh how the view changes when the job title and control changes.
Therein lies the problem, too many politicians change their view or at least their expressed view when it suits them. If raising the debt ceiling in 2006 was a bad thing (regardless of who was in control of the purse strings) then it is bad policy in 2011. Seriously, a little consistency would go a long way.
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