We cannot, and will not, sustain deficits like these without end. Contrary to the prevailing wisdom in Washington these past few years, we cannot simply spend as we please and defer the consequences to the next budget, the next administration, or the next generation.

We are paying the price for these deficits right now. In 2008 alone, we paid $250 billion in interest on our debt — one in every 10 taxpayer dollars. That is more than three times what we spent on education that year; more than seven times what we spent on VA health care.

So if we confront this crisis without also confronting the deficits that helped cause it, we risk sinking into another crisis down the road as our interest payments rise, our obligations come due, confidence in our economy erodes, and our children and our grandchildren are unable to pursue their dreams because they’re saddled with our debts.

And that’s why today I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office. This will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we’ve long neglected. But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay — and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control.  President Obama, February 23, 2009

 

The sad part is that he is right, but instead of doing what he said, the deficits have continued, become much worse, and will have tripled the national DEBT according to projections.  In short, it is the exact opposite of “A New Era of Responsibility.”   Unfortunately the actions have not followed the words.

See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jJvkkNmR_8 and http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_New_Era_of_Responsibility