According to National Review Online, in 2006 Obama gave a speech arguing against raising the debt ceiling. But you wouldn’t know it from Senate records anymore…
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. 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”.
However, when you click on the link in the NRO article, it doesn’t work anymore. The link goes to Senate files. Instead, you get this message:
Home>File Not Found
Page Not FoundWe’re sorry. The page you requested cannot be found. The address may have been typed incorrectly or the page may have been moved during the recent redesign of our site.
You will be automatically redirected to Senate Republican Policy Committee’s homepage after ten seconds. If the problem persists, please contact our technical staff at: webmaster@rpc.senate.gov.
Thank you.
So, now there is no official, accessible, or verifiable record that Obama ever uttered those words about debt ceiling limitations.
He might just sound like his opponents.
UPDATE on January 15:
Someone graciously pointed out to me that Obama’s speech against the debt ceiling has been found elsewhere. This morning, the Heritage Foundations’s “Morning Bell” Blog had a link that went to the Government Printing Office (gpo.gov). They dug it up because the online Senate files were scrubbed.
You can see the full speech here in the Congressional Record or you can read the full text here. It’s a worthwhile read — his speech sounds downright conservative (when Bush was the opposition)