WaPo Fact Checker: "4 Pinocchios" For Obama

Liar-in-Chief?

Today in Washington, D.C. - Sept 26, 2012
Congress is not in session!

Today, Washington Post Fact Checker Glenn Kessler has caught President Obama in another outlandish claim (euphemism for LIE) from his interview with “60 Minutes.” This time, Obama is claiming that “90 percent” of the current deficit is the fault of the policies of President Bush.

Kessler explains, “CBO’s errors in forecasting played a large role in the demise of the projected surpluses. CBO had kept counting on a gusher of capital gains revenue — and then obviously failed to predict the recession of 2008. But Obama’s policies also played a big role during his presidency.”

After doing some calculations, Kessler writes, “Clearly, a huge part of the deficit problem — about half — stems from the recession and forecasting errors. But Obama’s policies represent a big chunk as well. . . . Moreover, an important part of Obama’s legacy — the health-care law — has not even taken full effect yet.”

In the Weekly Republican Address last week, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, detailed how Obama’s policies would continue to make things even worse. “To pay down the debt requires a surplus Under the President’s 10-year budget, there is never a surplus. The single lowest annual deficit is $543 billion. The annual deficit in the 10th year grows to $652 billion. Despite $1.8 trillion in new taxes, his budget increases our spending and debt every year, adding $11 trillion to the debt overall.”

Kessler concludes, “[A]t some point, a president has to take ownership of his own actions. Obama certainly inherited an economic mess, and that accounts for a large part of the deficit. But Obama pushed for spending increases and tax cuts that also have contributed in important ways to the nation’s fiscal deterioration. He certainly could argue that these were necessary and important steps to take, but he can’t blithely suggest that 90 percent of the current deficit ‘is as a consequence’ of his predecessor’s policies — and not his own. . . . Four Pinocchios

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