Maybe this is old news - a search didn't turn up anything, but it would be easy to miss - but it's worth a note.
President Obama is now saying he regretted his vote against raising the debt ceiling in 2006 (see here).
Then:
He said it would be a big mistake.
“Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally,” the senator said at the time. “Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”
Now:
[he] believes his vote in 2006 was a mistake, according to White House spokesman Jay Carney.
“He realizes now that raising the debt ceiling is so important to the health of this economy and the global economy that it is not a vote that, even when you are protesting an administration’s policies, you can play around with, and you need to take very seriously the need to raise the debt limit so that the full faith and credit of the United States government is maintained around the globe,” Carney said Monday.
Nice to see him getting out in front of the criticism. Too bad he wasn't upfront during his 2008 campaign.
And one wonders who he really sympathizes with in this debate.