Looking backward

This sophomoric “Blame Bush” approach is going
nowhere for the administration other than to reinforce the impression it knows how
to campaign and point fingers but is utterly inept at the difficult task of
governing. This “we inherited” nonsense has to stop. The facts have
an inconvenient way of painting a narrative they have clung to like a life
preserver rather than actually putting forward policies that will stimulate the
economy.

The facts: When he assumed office in 2001, the national debt
before President George W. Bush and the nation stood at $3.3 trillion. When he
left office, that figure stood at $6.3 trillion — a $3 trillion increase. With
the “stimulus” package priced at $787 billion, $30 billion for SCHIP,
$410 trillion for a supplemental appropriations bill and a host of other
measures, President Obama and HIS policies will have added $3 trillion to the
federal debt when the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30 this year — and will have
done so in 20 MONTHS.

What it took Bush and the Republican Congress to amass in
eight years, President Obama and his Democratic majority will have done in 20
months. They increased discretionary spending for FY 2009 by 10 percent and
then increased discretionary spending for 2010 by an additional 12 percent, and
they have the nerve to blame President Bush for the hole they themselves have
dug for the country?

I hope the president received the message that the American
people want less government spending, not more. But I’m not going to hold my
breath: If Mr. Axelrod’s commentary this evening is any indication, the president
will continue to look backward, seeking to blame others rather than chart a bipartisan
path forward to change the tone and course set by Washington that he promised
the American people in 2008. How’s that hope and change working out for you?