Obama Inherited This Economic Mess From A Democratic Congress, Not Bush

As are most Republicans I'm upset how Republicans failed to control spending during Bush's two terms. President Obama in particular likes to remind us that he inherited this economic mess from his predecessor. There's just this one pesky little problem with that argument however. According to Section 8.1 of the Constitution (Enumerated Powers of Congress), Congress is responsible for taxing and spending, not the president. That means that when Democrats took over control of the House and Senate 2 1/2 years ago they (not Bush!) had Primary authority and responsibility for taxing and spending ... and, therefore, for any resulting surplus or debt.

For two years prior to this disaster Democrats had total control of EVERY Senate and House committee and sub-committee that had oversight responsibility for all the institutions and regulatory agencies that let us down. It's was THEIR JOB (per the Constitution), not Bush's, to see this coming AND do something about it.

It's Constitutionally (ie, factually) incorrect for President Obama or any other Democrat to claim they inherited this economic mess from President Bush as if they bear no responsibility for it. In fact, Obama himself(!) was a member of one body (Senate) that had responsibility and authority during Bush's last two years. Doesn't that mean that it's technically more accurate for President Obama to claim he inherited this mess from himself since, per the Constitution, he had more responsibility for spending and taxing than Bush his last two years?

If you take issue with the argument that Obama is more responsible than Bush, you must at least agree (because it's completely, factually and Constitutionally true) that Obama inherited this 'mess' from Democrats, not Bush, since (via majority control of Congress) they had 100% of the authority and responsibility for spending and taxing (therefore debt or surplus) during Bush's last two years. It's at least disingenuous for Democrats in Congress to complain about 'the mess' Bush handed them when, in fact, they had two years being in control of it to make changes that would have prevented the mess but didn't. If nothing else, they deserve at least an equal share of the responsibility for what's happened.

I suspect most Americans don't know this division of responsibility or forgot it or just haven't taken the time to think this through. It's easier to just accept what Democrats and the media are feeding us, right? Our ignorance of the Constitution can be a dangerous thing, a risk to our future in fact. After all, how can we hold the proper people responsible for anything if we don't understand who's responsible for what? For that matter, what does it say about Congress, the President and the media that they don't seem to know this? I encourage everyone to bone up on 'government' and get more involved in getting our current problems properly resolved.