What’s with Obama’s reluctance to use the megaphone of the presidency? I’d expected, especially after his eloquent speech on race during the 2008 campaign, that we were electing someone who would fully use the Bully Pulpit to bring clarity to the great issues facing the nation in a way that would cut through the fragmented media landscape and cable TV lunacy. After all, the speech on race did just that, putting the issue to bed for most people overnight.
At a time when clarity is so important in dealing with the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, you would think the president would realize that the time is now for the economic equivalent of his speech on race. But, evidently, he does not. And like so much else about this president, it is something I find hard to understand.
Obama has shown a strange aversion to the power of an Oval Office address to the nation, holding only two in his presidency so far – to speak about the BP disaster in the Gulf, and to announce the beginning of the drawdown in Iraq. (He preferred the East Room of the White House to announce the death of bin Laden.)
Why he is not inclined to use the Oval Office to clarify the current economic debate is anyone’s guess. But now is the time to use the power of that setting to clarify two issues essential to the economic recovery and future prosperity of the nation, both of which the Republicans have successfully dumbed down: deficit and the debt limit.
A Gallup poll conducted earlier this month showed just 19% favored raising the debt ceiling while 47% were opposed; 34% had no opinion, which is remarkable in light of the dire warnings of economic disaster that would occur if the debt limit is not increased.
The only way to counter public hostility to the idea of raising the debt ceiling, a function of government that has been a mere technicality for decades, is for Obama to go directly to the people from the Oval Office and explain why the words “Full Faith and Credit of the United States” actually mean something to the rest of the world. That this country has never defaulted on a single penny of its sovereign debt at any time in its history; not during multiple economic panics; not during four Depressions including the Great Depression; not when the British sacked Washington; not during the Civil War when the nation literally came apart at the seams; not during the first World War, nor during the Second; a war the federal government had to borrow an amount twice its GDP – 30 trillion dollars in today’s dollars – to win, all of which is why US Treasuries have become the bedrock of the global financial system and why default – for no reason other than Republican Tea party politics -- would set off another global economic crisis.
In his address the president could finally dispense with an old Republican canard that the nation should be run like a business. He could explain that the balance sheets of nations are not like those of corporations, which exist to make ever increasing profits. Yes the deficit is a problem, but unemployment is a crisis; the one that needs to be solved before the deficit can be addressed. The president would also have the opportunity to finally say what no one in Washington says; that running deficits during an economic downturn is exactly what governments are supposed to do. He could impress on the nation as vividly as his speechwriters are able, the horror show this country would be today if the government were not deficit spending on things like unemployment insurance, Medicaid and food stamps. He could put to rest that stupid analogy of government having to tighten it belt just like households do, explaining that if it did, the result would be higher unemployment and far greater economic suffering for American families than they are already experiencing.
All this would be possible in one televised address to the nation. It could help end the dumb economic platitudes we always hear from pundits and fundamentally change the national debate on economic priorities.
Will he do it? Probably not. Meaning we’ll all continue to be subjected to a childish banter about the economy from people who are ignorant or disingenuous and usually both; one in which the public believes that the deficit is the result of a lot of frivolous and irresponsible spending on pet projects, never knowing that the real story is. It’s time for clarity. Make the address, Mr. President!