The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
Last night, David Letterman asked President Obama a question: just how big is the national debt?
Having tuned in to the Republican National Convention, Letterman was moved by one of the confab’s signal messaging achievements. As he explains to the president:
Here’s what I found troubling [at the GOP convention]...They had the clock, the debt countdown clock and, I mean, this thing is going like crazy and it’s several trillion dollars. Now, what is that?
Obama responded with a recent history of government spending. Then Letterman went back to the tally: “Now, do you remember what that number was? Was it $10 trillion?”
Then came the payoff, as the president made clear that he really didn’t want to utter the word “16”: “I don’t remember what the number was precisely.”
He doesn't remember the precise number. Probably because, hey, why bother? If he gets re-elected, that number is going to be a lot larger.
As David Freddoso put it: "If Romney can't figure out a way to exploit this, he should self-deport."
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Comments:
Oct '11
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
Just tack this on to the end of Romney's "prairie fire of debt ad"!
Jul '11
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
You made me watch Letterman.
Yep - my new FB status is 16 trillion. I think that one of the SuperPacs out there needs to start making 16 trillion bumper stickers / ads etc. In 2008 - it wasn't just Obama that got himself elected - it was a very concerted effort. As a matter of fact I don't remember much about him specifically. It was all the Obamabots speaking on his behalf.
We need the debt clock on Ricochet and every other site.
May '12
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
All of this ammunition and it is still pretty silent from Romney?????
May '10
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
I'm tempted to update Soak The Rich, the online deficit-reduction game I developed this spring, to reflect the $16,000,000,000,000 milestone.
Think it's worth my time to do so?
May '12
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
Attacking the debt is fun, it is my 3rd profession, but doing so in the campaign is a 2 edged sword.
That is absolutely correct. It is also correct that the national debt is going to be a lot larger under a President Romney. Perhaps not as big as under Obama 2, but still Trillion$ more than it is today.
Beware the opportunity for Obama to attack Gov. Romney from the right and blast him for not balancing the budget or having a plan to pay down the debt either. That opens the door for Obama to keep up his tax the rich argument that while absolutely bogus is the only argument out there right now.
Apr '11
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
Anyone know at what point in the "interview" Letterman gets around to asking that question? There're ways to select just what you want out of videos (e.g. splicd.com, for just one). I, for one, will not be watching 14 mins of softballs and schmoozing between The Won and The Clown.
Edited on September 19, 2012 at 6:34pmJul '11
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
Jason Hart: I'm tempted to update Soak The Rich, the online deficit-reduction game I developed this spring, to reflect the $16,000,000,000,000 milestone.
Think it's worth my time to do so?
Totally! Another suggestion: Add a counter for jobs endangered following each clicked industry.
Mar '11
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
Have you ever met a debtor who didn't respond this way?
May '12
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
Barkha Herman
Jason Hart: I'm tempted to update Soak The Rich, the online deficit-reduction game I developed this spring, to reflect the $16,000,000,000,000 milestone.
Think it's worth my time to do so?
Totally! Another suggestion: Add a counter for jobs endangered following each clicked industry. · 1 minute ago
Obama added Trillion$ to the debt, but he didn't create the $16T all by himself. There was 6 years of a republican in the White House and republican Congress that did their share to keep piling it on.
This is hazardous territory for R's. Obama is the worst in history, but this line of attack opens up the MSM to be able to dig up ghosts of Bush, Hastert, Delay, etc.
If we want a republican President we may want to be careful about exposing republican culpability for this mess in an era where blame the past admin is still en vogue.
Sep '10
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
They should run the commercial and have Barack playing Steve Austin The Sixteen Trillion Dollar Man and have him smoking cigarettes, shooting hoops, being cool with all his fan boys:
"We can make him better than he was: better, faster, stronger."
Sep '12
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
Can't fault Obama on this one. It is impossible to remember a number that changes by the millions, every second.
Edited on September 19, 2012 at 7:06pmOct '10
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
My hope is that Mitt is just marinating in all the hard numbers and percentages so he can pull them out at will for an offensive attack in the debates. He is a solid numbers guy but I wish someone would slip a little essence of Newt into his diet.
Oct '10
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
Jason Hart: I'm tempted to update Soak The Rich, the online deficit-reduction game I developed this spring, to reflect the $16,000,000,000,000 milestone.
Think it's worth my time to do so? · 28 minutes ago
Heh, that's pretty amusing.
Jul '10
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
I'd be generous, and allow the President to remind us that the Debt in January 2009 was $10 Trillion - as long as he owns up to adding $6 Trillion in the ensuing three and a half years.
Sep '10
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
Math is hard. So many zeros, zero jobs, trailing zeros on debt...
Aug '10
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
In the same interview, the president employed another of his famous straw-men. When discussing his challenger's "47%" comment, Obama said something along the lines of, "The president has to represent all Americans."
Jul '12
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
Well at least American Crossroads can do something with it.
Oct '10
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
Canadian Conservative: Can't fault Obama on this one. It is impossible to remember a number that changes by the millions, every second. · 2 hours ago
Edited 2 hours ago
Seriously? Sarcasm isn't always easy to spot in the written word. So assuming you're serious, the number to remember is "16." It was "16" three weeks ago at the GOP convention, it's "16" today, and it'll be "16" on Election Day. Letterman wasn't auditing Obama. He just wanted to know if Obama knew the ballpark number. Or whatever his motive was. But the idea that "16 trillion" is impossible to remember because it was "16,245,188, 904" then and it's "16,391,301,556" now is kinda silly.
And it seems like most Ricos know the number, despite it's changing "by the millions" every second. So Obama can know it, too. After all, we're just Ricos. He's the smartest president ever.
Oh, and it changes by only $25,000 per second.
Edited on September 19, 2012 at 10:07pmOct '10
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
So Obama can know it, too. After all, we're just Ricos. He's the smartest president ever.
· 3 hours ago
Edited 3 hours ago
Is this sarcasm? It's impossible to empirically prove the smartest president ever. 39 of them are dead, and educational standards have changed over time.
Edited on September 20, 2012 at 1:31amBut seriously, of course Obama knows "16", and of course he isn't going to hamstring himself by proclaiming it on Letterman. He's campaigning.
Nov '10
Re: The Number, Mr. President, is 16 Trillion
BrentB67 Obama added Trillion$ to the debt, but he didn't create the $16T all by himself. There was 6 years of a republican in the White House and republican Congress that did their share to keep piling it on.
This is hazardous territory for R's. Obama is the worst in history, but this line of attack opens up the MSM to be able to dig up ghosts of Bush, Hastert, Delay, etc.
If we want a republican President we may want to be careful about exposing republican culpability for this mess in an era where blame the past admin is still en vogue. · 22 hours ago
It took us 232 years to accumulate $10T in debt. It took Barack Obama less than four to add $6T more. That's over 3/8 of the total debt accumulated in a single Presidential term.
To steal an analogy from Jonah Goldberg, trying to claim Bush, Hastert, et al. excuse Obama is like claiming that because a wife spent too much on a shopping trip, she has no right to complain when her husband loses the house in Vegas. At some point a difference in scale becomes a difference in kind.