"Past Wisdom" is Still Wisdom

I have friends who would wonder why a Christian guy would devote any real time to writing about what our President is doing. I would ask in return, "Why not?" He is after all, our elected leader and what he does--how he fulfills that role is a testimony to others within this nation and without. How he performs and how he comports himself in his role as our President is important.

The negotiations between President Obama and the GOP leadership in the matter of raising the nation's debt ceiling could be described so far as unproductive at best and vituperative at worst. Today the President left the negotiations in a bit of a tiff. He doesn't like anyone challenging his authority, but President Obama has in my mind has acted shamefully. In saying that he could not guarantee that Social Security checks would be mailed out on August 3rd if an agreement is not met, he misrepresented the situation. That's actually a false statement. He actually has the ability to make sure those checks go out. We have enough revenue this month to pay for the military, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, etc. etc.. The problem is the President's penchant for discretionary spending.

He evidently didn't always think the way that he does now about the debt ceiling. In 2006 as "Senator" Obama, he voted against raising that limit and said the following:

"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 the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."

I think that was a fine statement. What's changed?