Examiner Editorial: Obama wants it both ways on 'hard choices'

◼ President Obama's second inaugural address offered few memorable words. But two lines in sequence jumped out at us nonetheless, because the second one contradicts the first: - Washington Examiner Editorial

"We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit," Obama said. "But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future."

This is essentially Obama's way of telling everyone what they want to hear. "Lord, give us all chastity -- but not yet!" Throughout his presidency, Obama has tried to establish himself rhetorically as a transformational leader taking on the nation's tough problems -- especially America's mounting debt. In the meantime, he has consistently dodged these problems -- again, especially the debt.

In his first inaugural speech four years ago, Obama condemned "our collective failure to make hard choices." On Feb. 23, 2009, just days after signing his $800 billion economic stimulus into law, Obama hosted a "fiscal responsibility summit" at the White House in which he pledged "to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office." He said, "This will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we've long neglected."

In reality, Obama avoided nearly all tough choices on deficits....

When Obama first took the oath of office, the nation's total outstanding debt was $10.6 trillion. On Monday, it stood at $16.4 trillion. And even now he hasn't offered so much as a plan to tackle the problem.

This pattern of dithering over the nation's most pressing problem made the contradiction in Obama's Monday speech somewhat unsurprising. Within the same breath, he called for tough choices and then rejected the need for making them. If there is a more fitting summary of Obama's presidency, we do not know what it is.