You may have seen this story, in which Sheila Jackson Lee alleges that President Obama can't get the debt ceiling raised because he's black. Her basic "argument" goes like this: "White presidents never have a problem getting the debt ceiling raised..."
Here's what's interesting...black ones don't either, usually. In fact, President Obama got the debt ceiling raised three times during his tenure, and he was black all three times. He's only having a hard time NOW.
Why? Well, here's an explanation:
Why Is This Debt Ceiling Fight happening Now and Not During the Dozens of Other Times It Was Raised?
America’s ever-growing debt has become a more prevalent issue due to two events—the debt crisis in Europe (particularly Greece) and the 2010 midterm elections.
The political fight centers on not so much whether Congress should extend the debt limit, but whether this action should be tied to deficit-reduction measures as well.
As the Washington Post reports, thanks to the emergence of the Tea Party, federal spending and debt are under renewed public scrutiny. Added to that is a new class of Republican legislators who rode into Washington on pledges to cut the government’s bloated spending and debt. “Many congressional Republicans, under the watchful eye of tea party activists, have been loath to do anything that even appears like it could lead to more spending,” The Post reports.
Footnote: Some would argue, as I suspect SJL would, that all the fancy Tea Party talk about deficits, debt, and spending is just coded language that REALLY means, "Let's get the blacks off the dole."
I've already addressed that here.
Plus, Barack Obama himself voted against the debt limit increase under President Bush, and made a pretty damn good case for his position. Presumably, that had nothing to do with race. If SJL is aware of that, she can't be troubled with the logical implications.
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