What Obama Means by "Calling Their Bluff" [Stephen Spruiell]
Today (6/27/10) at the meeting of the G20, leaders of the advanced economies announced their intention to "halve deficits by 2013 and stabilize or reduce government debt-to-GDP ratios by 2016." President Obama said:
Somehow people say, why are you doing that, I'm not sure that's good politics. I'm doing it because I said I was going to do it and I think it's the right thing to do. People should learn that lesson about me because next year when I start presenting some very difficult choices to the country, I hope some of these folks who are hollering about deficits and debt step-up because I'm calling their bluff. We'll see how much of that, how much of the political arguments that they're making right now are real and how much of it was just politics.The article goes on to say that the "difficult decisions" President Obama will resort to are going to be broad based tax increases, even on the people who make less than $250K (you remember, the people he said he would never raise taxes on). Obama will call any Republican who complains that he broke his "pledge" about the tax increases, a "hypocrite" who doesn't really want to fix the problem.
...if you oppose the way Obama wants to fix the problem, then he will say you must be opposed to fixing the problem, even if you've put forward your own competing solution or solutions to the problem.
Why wait until next year???
Here's Rep. Eric Cantor's response to President Obama's "bluff calling" remark:
I've been advertising the YouCut Project in the right sidebar of this blog for several weeks. The site explains YouCut this way:
YouCut – a first-of-its-kind project - is designed to defeat the permissive culture of runaway spending in Congress. It allows you to vote, both online and on your cell phone, on spending cuts that you want to see the House enact. Vote on this page today for your priorities and together we can begin to change Washington's culture of spending into a culture of savings.
Over five weeks, 1 million people have voted in YouCut for the programs they think should be cut. You can even suggest programs you personally think should be considered. The program that gets the most votes each week is brought up for a vote in the House. So far, no programs have received enough votes by the Representatives to be voted down, but the main thing is to get each Representative's vote "on the record". Find out who is listening to the people and is willing to help cut government spending, and who is not.
There are ways for us to have a say in what we want done when it comes to big government spending. We can vote, we can correspond by phone or letter with our leaders (more likely, their flunkies), we can support good candidates through Ten Buck Fridays and we can march in a protest. YouCut gives us a vehicle where we can have a say in which programs we think should be cut from the budget to help save money.
Some people may think it's futile to even bother voting in YouCut; nothing has come of it yet. Remember, there are more Dems in the House and if you check out the list of Representatives who voted yes or no on the cuts, you probably will find the votes are usually down party lines. Oh yes, the names and votes are listed on the site.
Eric Cantor says the GOP is serious about cutting spending. OK, let's take advantage of Rep. Cantor's program and send President Obama and the Dems a message. Let's vote every week...the more people the better. That way they'll know we're serious and we expect them to do their jobs. After all, who's the boss here?
If you have a few minutes, head over to the YouCut Project website. It's worth checking out just to see the wasteful programs that our tax dollars are paying for...you will not be pleased.
Voting in YouCut is a way of taking some action and being involved now. We don't have to wait until 2011.
Obama is acting like a man-child calling the GOP's bluff. I love how Eric Cantor responded "We are not bluffing". It is great to see that Cantor is standing up to Obama and the rest of the liberals.
ReplyDeleteHi Teresa:
ReplyDeleteI'm happy that Eric Cantor is making it known that the Republicans are "serious" about cutting spending. I just hope the rest of the Republicans are on the same page. I know some of them are (as seen in the YouCut video), but some of those guys who have been around for years, are just as guilty of pork barrel spending as the Dems.
'm happy that Eric Cantor is making it known that the Republicans are "serious" about cutting spending. ..me too CL..not too many outspoken these days!
ReplyDeleteAngel:
ReplyDeleteI think the GOP must make the November elections about cutting spending, jobs, making the Bush tax cuts permanent and repealing Obamacare. Afghanistan is now in good hands with General Petraeus (at least I hope so).
Obama is our conman in chief. He tries to direct attention away from his inadequacies by "calling a bluff". That assumes facts not in evidence. Who besides Obama says that there ever was a bluff.
ReplyDeleteWe need serious budget cuts. Obama needs to stop politicking and do it.
Hi Opie:
ReplyDeleteObama's way of tackling the big deficits is to raise taxes. He isn't interested in cutting spending. Besides being the ConMan-in-Chief, he's the Spender-in-Chief.
I really like Eric Cantor. I've intended to get into the YouCut program and haven't done it yet. I'll will do that tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteObviously, when Obama says he will present some very difficult choices next year, it won't be cutting programs. Is it just me, or does Obama's comment make no sense?
He can call us hypocrites (doesn't make sense either) but he has a list of monikers attached to him that he will wear the rest of his life.
I think that this was a fine response by Cantor. I haven't caught much news today, so I have no idea how the MSM covered it, if at all.
ReplyDeleteMaggie:
ReplyDeleteI can think of a few Obama monikers that are not suitable for sensitive ears.
He will go down in history as America's worst president...the one who was hell bent on destroying it.
Matt:
ReplyDeleteI'm allergic to the state-controlled media, so it's rare I switch my channel away from FNC. But I did hear on Greta last night the insinuation by Politico that there is trouble between Cantor and Boehner. So, I guess that's how the MSM is covering it. Although, Greta did mention the YouCut Project, which I'm sure either wasn't mentioned at all in the MSM, or if it was, it was probably criticized.
have a great day girl!
ReplyDeleteIt was spending money that they didn't have that did for the worlds last sole superpower, the Roman Empire, alongside debasing their currency and confusion over the issue of immigration.
ReplyDeleteBack to the present, UKs Coalition government certainly don't seem to be bluffing about cuts with most govt. depts. (except education and healthcare) being told to cut by 30%. Interestingly they have indicated that if the welfare bill comes down hard then personel cuts within the public sector might not be so bad. ie, If state workers hit their clients, they themselves might keep their jobs.
Angel:
ReplyDeleteHope you had a great day, too.
Hi banned:
ReplyDeleteI think Obama's agenda is taking down the path of the Roman Empire. We'll be Greece soon.
Glad to hear that at least some countries on this planet think it's a good idea to cut spending.