Even though it was near the top of the raw news wire at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, when I saw it, I had to check the date on Tom Raum's item entitled "Why It Matters: Debt." Sure enough, it really does have a September 24. 1:36 p.m. time stamp.
That is intensely ironic and somewhat delicious, because the final sentence of Raum's dispatch directly contradicts something President Barack Obama said in his appearance on David Letterman's show last week -- something I believe (but can't prove, due to frequent wire service revisions) the AP originally failed to report.
Here are Raum's final two paragraphs:
The current $16.4 trillion debt limit will be reached late this year or early next. A slew of tax breaks will expire at the same time.
No matter who wins, he'll immediately have his hands full.
Here's what Obama said about the immediacy of the national debt problem on Letterman's show a week ago:
... we don't have to worry about it short term. Right now interest rates are low because people still consider the United States the safest and greatest country on Earth, rightfully so. But it is a problem long term and even medium term. We're going to have to take care of this debt, this deficit, but we've got to do it in a balanced way," Obama said.
So the AP's Raum has directly (and correctly) refuted President Obama's contention that "we don't have to worry about it short term." We do, of course, for two reasons: The debt limit which will be reached in 3-5 months, and evidence that the rest of the world is losing interest, so to speak, in holding U.S. Treasury securities at "risk-free" rates of return.
Maybe if the AP had adequately (or actually) covered the entirely of Obama's Letterman appearance instead of just the parts where he took shots at Mitt Romney, Tom Raum would have known that his last sentence goes against Dear Leader's clearly stated position. That's not a good thing if one wants to remain in good standing at the Administration's Press.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
