Every once in a while, prominent people say things they don’t think will be heard. Apparently, President Obama went off on the Republicans, John Boehner and Paul Ryan when a mic was open that he didn’t know about.
I actually think Obama’s comments were juicy and terrific — mostly on the mark and sincere.
I particularly like this part of the Obama clip on Paul Ryan and the “two wars that were unpaid for” that Ryan voted for:
When Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure… he’s just being America’s accountant and trying to be responsible– this is the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill–but wasn’t paid for.
It is good for President Obama to remind people that the Iraq War, the Afghanistan War, and now the Libya War are not being offset by either tax increases or cuts in spending. These very expensive wars are nonetheless undermining the economic solvency of the country.
In the first Gulf War, President George H.W. Bush got Japan to send the U.S. a check for $13 billion to pay for that war — which actually resulted in a small profit. Wars shouldn’t be run for profits, but wars should not be pursued without a more serious study of the economic vulnerabilities they create.
— Steve Clemons
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