Debt-ceiling double-talk

by Armstrong Williams - 01/25/11 2:26 PM ET

While Congress prepares its budget for this year, threatening deep cuts to
a $14 trillion debt, the first real test of the GOP’s fiscal constitution is shaping
up to come in the form of whether or not to raise the debt ceiling.

Years ago, no one wanted to talk about expanding the credit line of the U.S.
government. It was such a stark reminder of how bad a hole we were in that both
parties built the significant vote as a procedural move with other votes. In other
words, they tried to bury the thing in hopes members would not have to rise in defense
of an ever-growing nightmare.

What profiles in courage — both parties were part of the Ostrich Caucus —
sticking their collective heads in the sand on some of the most important issues
of the day.

And now here we are again, Republicans are at the helm, and Treasury Secretary
Geithner and his minions are screaming like Chicken Little that if their opponents
don’t “do the right thing,” the U.S. will default on its debt obligations.

Keep in mind this story barely made a ripple back in February 2010 — the
last time the nation’s debt ceiling was to be raised. President Obama couldn’t be
bothered with such distractions, and the White House was all too eager to revert
to Rule No. 1 of its administration — blame Bush.

Now that Republicans control the House, Democrats are eager to see what degree
of hypocrisy they’ll commit on raising the debt ceiling.

It just kills me that the party not in power is so eager to hug the bible
of fiscal discipline. Take Secretary Geithner’s comments earlier this month: “Default
would effectively impose a significant and long-lasting tax on all Americans and
all American businesses and could lead to the loss of millions of American jobs.”
Pretty scary, huh? The funny thing is, this line could have been written decades
ago when Democrats took us down this path, or even more recently when Presidents
Bush and Obama piled on to the deficits.

Armstrong Williams is on Sirius/XM Power 169, 7-8 p.m. and 4-5 a.m., Monday through Friday. Become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/arightside, and follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/arightside.