There are near countless examples now of the President saying one thing while doing another: calling for bipartisanship while lambasting Republicans; promising to pursue “whatever works” in education, while allowing Congress to crush one of the few programs that has actually been shown to boost student achievement; and promising to reduce health care spending by pushing a bill that does just the opposite. And of course, there is all the President’s talk about the need for fiscal discipline (read more about the latest sad, but kind of amusing, pay-go hypocrisy here) while he offers blow out budgets and deficit-inducing legislation.
In an oped in Politico, Rep. Paul Ryan identifies another example that perfectly encapsulates the disconnect between the President’s actions and his rhetoric:
The most candid expression of this sidestep can be found on Page 146 of his budget: On top of the page is a summary table of the president’s actual budget numbers, which show a simple continuation of the unsustainable path of ever-higher spending, taxes, deficits and debt. Immediately below this table is a large box acknowledging that the budget numbers are unsustainable and calling for a commission to fix the situation. The executive order creating this panel says: “The fiscal commission is charged with identifying policies to improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long term.”
Yes, the President is a champion of fiscal discipline because he’s calling for a commission to deal with overspending… just pay no attention to his actual proposed budget.