While former President George W Bush has withheld comment on the performance of current President Barack Obama the reverse is not true. As if liberals haven’t bashed Bush enough over the last eight or nine years the liberals’ liberal, Barack Obama has once again resorted to blaming others for how things are. In a report from The Hill below it is mentioned that Senator Obama was more supportive of President Bush when public money first flowed to the auto industry.
By Mike Soraghan
Posted: 06/07/09 11:24 AM [ET]
The Obama administration has a familiar response to criticism of the General Motors bailout – they inherited this mess from George W. Bush.
In his first five months in office, Obama has often said that some of the politically difficult decisions he’s made are the fault of his predecessor, most notably the $1.3 trillion budget deficit.
But he’d previously been more supportive of Bush’s handling of the crisis in the auto industry. When Bush sent $17.4 billion of the $700 billion bailout package to GM and Chrysler in December, Obama issued a statement calling Bush’s move “a necessary step.”
In another current report former First Lady Laura Bush expresses the sentiment or rationale behind the ‘courtesy’ silence on matters Obama from her husband, former President George W Bush. A sensible approach from a man so often criticized by liberals. A reasonable position apparently lost on the current President who at times expressed it was counterproductive to engage in assessing blame for the ways things are when he took office in January of this year.
Former first lady Laura Bush said while her husband, George W. Bush, does not think it’s appropriate for a former president to criticize his successor, she understands why former Vice President Dick Cheney has.
“That’s his right as a citizen of the U.S., and I think he also feels obligated and so I understand why he wants to speak out,” Bush said in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “On the other hand George feels like as a former president that he owes President Obama his silence on issues and that there’s no reason to second guess any decisions he makes.”
A brief look back at how we got here may not match the current criticism emanating from the Obama Administration on the topic of a government takeover of the American auto industry. The House auto bailout bill passed and of the 237 votes in favor of it 205 were from Democrats. The bill died in the Senate and as the last line below indicates GOP members opposed it. Other reports suggest the ‘tough love’ measures were not strong enough.
Obama, who will inherit the problem next month, even if bailout billions are handed over in the meantime, said, “My hope is that the administration and the Congress will still find a way to give the industry the temporary assistance it needs while demanding the long-term restructuring that is absolutely required.”
In a letter to Bush, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged the president to demand “the same tough accountability” and taxpayer protections from the automakers as was contained in legislation that cleared the House at midweek.
The Dems were liking an auto bailout…..
In the days between then and now, the White House and congressional Democrats agreed on a $14 billion measure that would have extended short-term financing to the industry while establishing a powerful new “car czar” to make sure the money was used to turn the Big Three into competitive companies. That bill passed the House on Wednesday but immediately ran into opposition from Senate Republicans who said it did not go far enough.
Whatever the reason, the effort stalled when Republicans voted en masse against advancing the original House bill to a final vote late Thursday night.
The point is there is always enough blame to go around when things go wrong. Obama blaming Bush will only take him so far. Every President inherits the way things are when they take office. It is time for the current President to prove he is worthy of the office and set aside meaningless political bickering.
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
This entry was posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 2:15 pm and is filed under Public Affairs, Money Matters, Bush, wordpress, Politics, News Media, obama, Opinion, GM, Ford, Chrysler, Congress, Business.
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June 9th, 2009 at 2:06 am
Great commentary Stanford. The stats on the vote tells the story.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:27 am
Obama team taking on the looks of children when scolded by parents. No, no Johnny did it. I didn’t do it.