June 16, 2011--Taking the Gloves Off

Just as the New York Times in an editorial on Tuesday prodded Barack Obama that it's "time to take off the gloves," in the Senate, Barbara Boxer did just that.

During a debate in which Senator Rand Paul was talking piously about why Congress should not agree to any more spending on unemployment insurance until the Democrats agree to massive spending cuts--and presumably no increase in the nation's debt ceiling--on the Senate floor Boxer said:

Senator Boxer: Now we're going through a time where we have to cut spending, and I love when the Republicans lecture Democrats about it! Watch, wait till you hear what goes on here. Guess the only party to ever balance the budget and create a surplus? The Democrats, under Bill Clinton, in recent memory. So don't lecture us about how to balance budgets, we know how to do it, and guess what, we knew how to do it while creating 23 million jobs, so I don't need to hear the lectures, because they're misplaced. Talk to yourselves. You're the ones who didn't say a word when George Bush gave a tax cut to billionaires and put it all on the credit card, and now you still want to extend those tax cuts and bleed the revenues.

Senate President: Will you yield for a question?

Senator Boxer: I will not yield until I'm finished. I've stated that before. But thank you for asking.

Under Bill Clinton, the Democrats balanced the budget, created the surpluses and 23 million jobs. George Bush came over, he held a press conference. He said, "We don't need surpluses. This money belongs to the American people." and he didn't say what he meant, he meant it belongs to rich people, super rich people who earn over a billion and a million dollars, he gave away the store, then he went to war, two wars, and he put it on the credit card, and my friends on the other side never once said "Gee, I can't raise the debt ceiling to pay the debts." They all voted to pay, almost to a person, raise the debt ceiling, when it was doubled from Bill Clinton.

But now, after George Bush left a mess, a god awful mess in the debt and the deficit, he handed President Obama a 1.2 trillion dollar deficit, and all of a sudden they blame President Obama for all of this. The American people get it, they don't buy it, they understand it. They're not happy where we are, and they shouldn't be, but they know where the problem started. Do you know why? Cause you can't rewrite history! Well, you could try. But those deficits and those debts, those numbers, they're in the books, and unless you erase them they'll remain in the books. I don't care whether it's talking about Paul Revere's ride or the deficits, that's history. So I'll show you the deficits we had when we were in control, we got it down to zero, and we got surpluses and 23 million jobs, and that all was erased, and then we entered a situation, the last couple of years of the Bush Administration, where jobs were bleeding at 800,000 a month, 700,000 a month, credit was frozen, the automobile industry was in the tank, and President Obama took action.

And this recovery is tough, the worst recession since the Great Depression. So this is what I know we can do if we work together, dare I say it, we can adopt a framework that understands billionaires and millionaires don't need their tax cuts now, we can get some more revenues in here, and cut the fat, and cut the duplication, and go after the people who don't pay the taxes they owe, and end the war in Afghanistan and save a trillion over ten years. I can come up with 4 trillion dollars pretty easily! Allow Medicare to negotiate with the drug companies for lower prices! How's that? 200 Billion!

All we need now is to hear something similar from the president. He may be holding back, waiting for the presidential campaign to really get underway; but I am not sure that the rest of us have the luxury of waiting while he maneuvers to get his political ducks in a row. As the Times urged--it's time for leadership, not just reelection strategizing.