This past Saturday Rep. G.K. Butterfield repeated two myths that gained unwarranted circulation over the past decade but have subsequently been shown as false.
Via Wahington Daily News:
In his speech, Butterfield said the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act helped stabilize a freefalling economy, but it passed with zero Republican votes.
“The Republicans made a political decision to be the party of ‘No,’” he said, sounding a theme often aired by the White House.
Butterfield said the federal government enjoyed a $230 billion surplus when Democratic President Bill Clinton left office.
The surplus was erased as Bush, the GOP — and supportive Democrats he didn’t mention — launched measures including the war in Iraq, which has cost thousands of lives and $1 trillion, according to Butterfield.
To any of this one must suspend the reality that our congress has control over the nation's purse. The surplus he attributes to Clinton was in fact crafted by the Gingrich Congress. Bill Clinton was the lucky beneficiary of that success.
This myth of the "Clinton surpluses" allowed Obama to claim the mantle of fiscal prudence and that he in conjunction with Democrats in congress would cut national spending:
"When George Bush came into office, our debt -- national debt was around $5 trillion. It's now over $10 trillion. We've almost doubled it. ... But actually I'm cutting more than I'm spending so that it will be a net spending cut." -- Obama, during an Oct. 7, 2008, debate in Nashville
And that brings us to the second myth presented by GK Butterfield and Obama -- that of the "Bush" debt. Although, conservatives under Bush wallowed in debt spending to an unpalatable degree, it was not until Pelosi gained control over the national purse that the deficits Obama and Butterfield refer to were created. In fact, national debt was declining under Bush after the 9/11 economic shock until Pelosi forced increased spending during the last two years of Bush.
In both cases G.K. Butterfield asks us to believe that our Presidents control the nation's purse when, in fact, the congress does. The fact that G.K. Butterfield believes that his constituents will believe such blather attests to a contempt for his constituents. For G.K. Butterfield to continue to promulgate these myths in the face of the past two years congressional profligacy indicates a tin ear to reality and an example of immoral governance.
Although G.K. Butterfield could use a refresher course on how our constitutional republic operates, no understanding of our system of governance can alter the roots of his immoral governance.
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