Not even voting present

Raising the debt ceiling has been on the agenda in Washington for many months now. Right after agreement was reached on the 2010 spending levels (which the Democrats had failed to pass in a timely fashion when they controlled Congress), president Obama asked vice president Biden to lead a group that would negotiate the rise of the debt ceiling. That was more than three months ago. Since that time, the Republicans in the House have put forward and passed a bill that lifts the debt ceiling. It was published and debated and then passed on the floor of the House. The House GOP has also talked with the Democrats and with the president. During those three months, the Senate Democrats have talked; then the talked some more. We have no proposal from them as to how to raise the debt ceiling, however. Indeed, when the House passed its bill, the Senate Democrats took that legislation and would not even allow it to be debated. No, Harry Reid and his fellow Democrats just tabled the House bill. There has been a lot of talk from the Senate Democrats about how the evil GOP was refusing to let taxes get raised sufficiently to meet the Democrats' goal of soaking the rich, but the Senate Democrats have not proposed a bill that sets forth the taxes that they want to raise. For his part, president Obama has also talked and talked and talked. He has talked to Congress, he has talked to the news media and he has talked to the American people. But in all that palaver, Obama has never once said what he actually wants done. Oh we hear that he would agree to spending cuts of various sizes, but the numbers keep changing. We have also heard that Obama wants tax increases, but the American people do not know what those increases would be for the most part. Sure, Obama has told us about changing depreciation for corporate jets, but the bulk of the tax increases he seeks (which total 1.2 trillion dollars in his latest general statements) remain undisclosed.

The government of the United States of America is supposed to operate iin public. Obama came to Washington to bring "transparency" or so he said. America would always know what was going on, he promised. Now, after months of talking, Obama still will not disclose to the public what it is that he wants. What cuts in entitlements will he agree to? what will the spending cuts be? What additional taxes is he seeking?

These are not inconsequential questions. America deserves to know what it is that Obama wants to do. Of course, that assumes that Obama himself knows what he wants to do, an assumption that many no longer believe.

The people of this country should contact their congressment and senators and tell them that unless proposals are made in public and in the form of legislation, there should be no further discussions. If Obama really wants to raise the debt ceiling, he can draft the legislation to do so. If that is too much work so that it will interfere with Obama's next golf game, then let him find a member of his staff who can put the measure together.

When he was a state senator in Illinois, Obama frequently avoided voting on tough issues by voting only "present". In this latest debate, Obama has actually not even bothered to show up and do his job. His conduct does not even rise to the level of voting present.