When I first heard Mark Levin advising congressional Republicans to take a tough stance while negotiating over raising the debt ceiling, it sounded like a bad move. After all, Congress has to raise the debt ceiling or the country would default on its obligations and who knows what damage it would cause. And I’m not convinced that the Democrats would care all that much. They might go ahead and let it happen, as long as they could blame Republicans.
But a thought occurred to me. Obama, as a member of the Senate, voted against raising the debt ceiling. In announcing his 2006 vote, he said, “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 therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.” This makes it really tough for Democrats to demonize Republicans for doing the same thing. Yes, I understand that Gibbs said that he voted against it because he knew his vote wouldn’t matter. But try saying that in a campaign ad – I don’t think that defense will work. Compare that with the effectiveness of a campaign ad that merely plays Obama’s comments on the issue. Oh yes, Mr. President, you have backed yourself into a corner.
Combined with that you have the release of the recent Reuters/Ipsos poll results showing that Americans oppose raising the debt ceiling by a margin of 71 % to 18%.
With the strong backing of the American people, Republicans are in an excellent position to demand, as a condition of their raising the debt ceiling, serious limitations on government spending.
House Republicans, take a tough stance! The nation is cheering you on – can’t you hear them?
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