Put more clearly, is Obama addicted to spending? With the Congress on the verge of taking over one-seventh of the U.S. economy, and after passing yet another stimulus package ($1.1 trillion this time), the president is reverting to the same old guilt-ridden rhetoric he’s unburdened himself of after previous binges (see “Keynesianism even he doesn’t believe in” and “Keynesian even he doesn’t believe in, Nov. 2009 edition“).
USA Today reports:
While grappling with health care, unemployment and Afghanistan, President Obama is being careful to pay attention to record-busting budget deficits that hover over the federal government.
“We can’t continue to spend as if deficits don’t have consequences, as if waste doesn’t matter, as if the hard-earned tax dollars of the American people can be treated like Monopoly money,” Obama said at an event devoted to government efficiency.
His words are so thoroughly at odds with his deeds that one would be tempted to laugh were it not so serious. I’m beginning to think this pattern runs deeper than the president accidentally giving a glimpse behind the curtain. I think it’s just as much a part of the Cycle of Addiction as is his many “unprecedented” spending binges. Consider:
There is a distinct life cycle of addiction. … Eventually, the person becomes fully addicted to ___, gradually increasing usage in order to continue recreating their euphoric effects. The person loses control and is trapped. The person’s original problems are forgotten. All the person is concerned with now is satiating getting more ___. They are completely entrenched in the cycle of addiction and are unable, at this point, to see the untold health and emotional consequences.
Depression, Obsession and the Cycle of Addiction
As the addiction deepens, the person will begin hiding his or her ___ use from loved ones. Ridden with guilt, the person may start to withdraw from family and friends. The person may become belligerent and start to behave oddly. These behaviors set off their own sequence of events: the more a person abuses ___, the guiltier they start to feel, the more depressed they become and the more they will turn to ___ to ease those feelings.
Once addicted, a person will sacrifice almost anything in an attempt to obtain more ___. Nothing is off limits – family and friends, jobs, savings, etc. Getting and using the substance is now the most vital thing in their life.
It’s just a question. But it would explain why a former champion of transparent and accountable government smiles on 1 a.m. votes on bills over two thousand pages long that haven’t even been given 72 hours before the public for review, why he pushes for trillion-dollar spending bills, and why he sounds guilty afterwards.
