Cynthia Tucker: The Lie About Obama’s Big Spending

http://www.nationalmemo.com/cynthia-tucker-the-lie-about-obamas-big-spending/

Cynthia Tucker: The Lie About Obama’s Big Spending
May 28th, 2012 12:17 am Cynthia Tucker

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But there is an obvious hole in their narrative: Where the heck were these guys when George W. Bush was president?

Quiet as it’s kept, Obama has been no spendthrift. I know that has become conventional wisdom, a meme recycled endlessly in conservative circles and on the right-wing propaganda network, which includes Fox News. But the facts — those pesky, irritating, liberal-leaning facts borne out by government documents — tell another tale: Obama has curbed the federal spending that escalated under Bush.

Let’s revisit ancient history — the presidency of Bill Clinton. After Clinton persuaded Congress to raise taxes — allow me to repeat that: after Congress raised taxes — the nation enjoyed widespread prosperity with an unemployment rate that dropped below 5 percent. The federal budget was balanced and, by the late 1990s, the U.S. treasury began to accumulate a surplus, which could have been used to pay down the debt. Enter George W. Bush, who campaigned on a pledge to cut taxes. Never mind the federal debt. A few forthright Republicans have conceded, in retrospect, that the monstrous tax cuts were a bad idea, but they are no longer serving. They didn’t dare say that when they were in office for fear of Grover Norquist, who has enforced a severe — and severely foolish — rule that forbids Republicans from raising taxes of any sort, ever.

The Washington Post’s Lori Montgomery filed an exhaustive report on the politics of the Bush tax cuts last year. She wrote: “The nation’s unnerving descent into debt began a decade ago with a choice, not a crisis. In January 2001, with the budget balanced … the Congressional Budget Office forecast ever-larger annual surpluses indefinitely. Voices of caution were swept aside in the rush to take advantage of the apparent bounty. Political leaders chose to cut taxes, jack up spending and, for the first time in U.S. history, wage two wars solely with borrowed funds.”

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Meanwhile, Romney supports the voodoo economics of his predecessors. He has said he will refuse to raise taxes while substantially increasing military spending. Sound familiar?