Obama shares blame for committee failure

Like many Americans, I am not surprised that the “supercommittee” couldn’t rise to the challenge. However, unlike Eugene Robinson, who places the blame squarely on Republicans, I believe the blame lies elsewhere. Those who seek to blame the Republicans fundamentally misunderstand the job the committee was tasked with and give the president a huge pass on his own culpability.

First, the job of the committee was not to deal with tax reform. Their job was to find a way to cut the deficit. The Republicans and Democrats both found ways to negotiate serious cuts. The Republicans even offered a tax increase to sweeten the pot. The Democrats, who have proved not to understand the importance of proper budgeting by not passing a budget in the Democrat-run Senate in over 35 months, now want to blame Republicans for not raising taxes?

The Democrats did what Democrats always do — push for more taxes. Like Democrats of yore, they punted when their demands weren’t met instead of facing the plain fact that we spend too much. I wonder if they will vote themselves raises?

Perhaps the most disturbing thing is the way the president handled (or failed to handle) the process. Now he is forced to admit that he wasn’t up to the task of “fixing” Washington or working across the aisle. Unfortunately, the Democrats aren’t interested in cutting unless it is attached to finding new ways to tax. Republicans don’t want to raise taxes during a recession, a notion Obama himself admits is plain old stupid. If every tax hike affected every American, we would all be more resistant to allowing a government that doesn’t bother to balance its books to ask for more from us and demand they spend within the nation’s means.

Jeff Fagan

Wheeling