April 6, 2009

People have short memories. Last year before the election, congressional Democrats were bemoaning the Bush administration deficit. Typical of the criticism was Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of New York.

Maloney said, “The gross federal debt is now almost $9 trillion, or more then $29,000 per person. That is how much every man, woman and child in America owes to this debt. This is the fiscal mess that we have to clean up. Thanks to President Bush’s policies, we are now a nation of debtors, relying on the rest of the world to finance our budget deficits and excessive spending.”

Now that President Obama has dramatically increased deficit spending and the debt, do we hear a peep from the congresswoman or any of the other Democrats who criticized the Bush budget? We do not.

Here’s another one, Representative Betty McCollum of Minnesota: “I want fiscal responsibility, not larger deficits.” With President Obama we’re getting fiscal irresponsibility and larger deficits, but we hear not a word of protest from Congresswoman McCollum. Like so many others, they're now silent. Don’t you love politicians?

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.