The American Pundit

Translation: He’s lying to the public through his teeth. The whole “I’m not responsible for that deficit” excuse doesn’t fly when you’re in the party controlling Congress for the past two years and actively supported massive spending measures by the Bush Administration.

WASHINGTON (AP) – “That wasn’t me,” President Barack Obama said on his 100th day in office, disclaiming responsibility for the huge budget deficit waiting for him on Day One.

It actually was him—and the other Democrats controlling Congress the previous two years—who shaped a budget so out of balance.

And as a presidential candidate and president-elect, he backed the twilight Bush-era stimulus plan that made the deficit deeper, all before he took over and promoted spending plans that have made it much deeper still.

Indeed. And in case you need a refresher on just how much bigger the deficit is projected to be over the next few years, see here. The Associated Press also fact-checks the other aspects of his claims:

Congress controls the purse strings, not the president, and it was under Democratic control for Obama’s last two years as Illinois senator. Obama supported the emergency bailout package in President George W. Bush’s final months—a package Democratic leaders wanted to make bigger.

To be sure, Obama opposed the Iraq war, a drain on federal coffers for six years before he became president. But with one major exception, he voted in support of Iraq war spending.

The economy has worsened under Obama, though from forces surely in play before he became president, and he can credibly claim to have inherited a grim situation.

Still, his response to the crisis goes well beyond “one-time charges.”

He’s persuaded Congress to expand children’s health insurance, education spending, health information technology and more. He’s moving ahead on a variety of big-ticket items on health care, the environment, energy and transportation that, if achieved, will be more enduring than bank bailouts and aid for homeowners.

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated his policy proposals would add a net $428 billion to the deficit over four years, even accounting for his spending reduction goals. Now, the deficit is nearly quadrupling to $1.75 trillion.

Translation: We don’t want to hear from a man who supported massive deficit spending, wanted even more spending, and has rammed through massive spending projects about how he inherited a deficit. Congress controls the purse strings and Democrats have controlled Congress since January 2007, with Barack Obama firmly planted in a senate seat for Illinois.

Now that Dems have control of both the White House and Congress, they’re ramming through even more deficit spending and putting the nation further into debt. Obama inherited something he helped create in a significant way.