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Romney Campaign Press Release - $14,600,000,000,000 and Counting is Not Leadership

August 25, 2011

"President Obama's approach to the budget should be rated triple A: Arrogant, Absent and Alarming." – Mitt Romney

In 2008, Candidate Obama Blasted Washington For Running Up The National Debt, Saying "What's The First Thing You Do When You're In A Hole? Stop Digging":

  • Candidate Obama Called The Growth In The National Debt During The Bush Administration "Irresponsible" And "Unpatriotic." "The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents – number 43 added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back – $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That's irresponsible. It's unpatriotic." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks In Fargo, ND, 7/3/08)
  • President-Elect Obama: "We've Got To Set Up A Long-Term Plan To Reduce The Structural Deficit And Make Sure That We're Not Leaving A Mountain Of Debt For The Next Generation." OBAMA: "My first priority and my first job is to get us on the path of economic recovery, to create 2.5 million jobs, to provide relief to middle-class families. But as soon as the recovery is well under way, then we've got to set up a long-term plan to reduce the structural deficit and make sure that we're not leaving a mountain of debt for the next generation." (President-Elect Barack Obama, Press Conference, 11/25/08)
  • Then-Sen. Obama, In 2008: "Our First Job Is To Stop Adding To Our Debt ... You Can't Be Serious About Deficit Reduction Or Debt Reduction If You Are Adding More Annual Debt." OBAMA: "What's the first thing you do when you're in a hole? Stop digging. So our first job – I just want to be honest – our first job is to stop adding to our debt. This is why in my campaign I have stuck to the basic principle of PAYGO, pay as you go. If I start a new program, then I'm cutting an old program. If I want to give a new tax cut, then I'm closing an old tax cut. So we have paid for all of our spending proposals in my plan, to make sure that it's not adding to the deficit. ... You can't be serious about deficit reduction or debt reduction if you are adding more annual debt." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks In Fairfax, VA, 7/10/08)

Given The Wasteful And Ineffective Projects In His $787 Billion Stimulus Plan, President Obama Should Have Taken His Own Advice:

  • $50,000 To Repair Cracks In A Tennis Court: CNN's DAVID MATTINGLY: "I came to Bozeman to find a city on thin ice over how it's spending stimulus money – $50,000 to erase all of these cracks and potholes in city tennis court. ... Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer wants to make Bozeman an example of how not to spend stimulus money." ... SCHWEITZER: "What they violated was that rule of common sense. There ought to be that little guy in your head that waves his finger at you and says, wait a minute, we might want to rethink this thing." (CNN, 1/25/10)
  • "The University Of Hawaii Collected $210,000 To Study The Learning Patterns Of Honeybees..." ("Senate GOP Point Out 'Pure Waste' Found In Stimulus Package," The Hill, 12/8/09)
  • $300,000 For "Mapping Radioactive Rabbit Feces": "A government contractor at Hanford, in south-central Washington State, just spent a week mapping radioactive rabbit feces with detectors mounted on a helicopter flying 50 feet over the desert scrub. ... The helicopter flights ... covered 13.7 square miles and were paid for with $300,000 in federal stimulus money." ("Even Rabbit Droppings Count In Nuclear Cleanup," The New York Times, 10/14/09)
  • $498,000 To Study Online Social Networks, Like Facebook: "Millions of internet users have been enjoying the fun – and free – services provided by advertiser-supported online social networks like Facebook. But Landon Cox, a Duke university assistant professor of computer science, worries about the possible down side -- privacy problems. ... To delve deeper into these issues and begin the search for alternatives, Cox recently won a $498,000, three-year grant from the National Science Foundation. The funding is part of the federal stimulus package called the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009." ("Seeking Privacy In The Clouds: Research Aims At Isolating Social Network Information From 'Control Of A Central Entity,'" Science Daily, 10/15/09)
  • $3,400,000 For An "'Eco-Passage' To Help Turtles Cross A Highway." "The other third of the stimulus, government infrastructure spending, has been the most controversial from the start. Some proposals have been criticized as wasteful, such as ... a $3.4 million 'ecopassage' to help turtles cross a highway in Tallahassee, Fla." ("The Challenge In Counting Stimulus Returns," The Wall Street Journal, 10/27/09)

Mitt Romney, Romney Campaign Press Release - $14,600,000,000,000 and Counting is Not Leadership Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/298292

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