Despicable

Yesterday, President Obama had this exchange with Scott Pelley, CBS news anchor:

"Scott Pelley: Can you guarantee as President those checks will go out on August the 3rd?

"Obama: I can not guarantee those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it."

This statement by the President is dishonest on many levels.

First, it is pretty much common knowledge that in the event the debt ceiling is not raised there would still be plenty of "money in the coffers" to send out Social Security checks if the President and his Secretary of the Treasury so direct.

Second, and most importantly, it is obvious the President is fear mongering. Why is it obvious? As President, Mr. Obama has immediate and constant access to every budgetary bigwig in Washington, D.C., not to mention his own Secretary of the Treasury. Surely these experts know the particulars of the cash flow situation should the debt ceiling not be raised. Surely they have informed the President of these particulars. If the President has not asked about the cash flow particulars, then he is unbelievably incompetent.

For the President to claim that there "may" not be enough money in the coffers, all the while knowing exactly how much money will be in the coffers and what that sum would pay for, is deception on the highest level. Why would he not explain the situation honestly? The only possible explanation is that he wants to instill fear in the minds of Social Security recipients in order to intimidate them into supporting his position.

This is a shameful ploy by the President and only demonstrates his lack of ethics and integrity! Don't we have a right to expect honesty from our highest public official regardless of political consequence?

Using Social Security recipients as weapons in a political fight only proves to me the danger of becoming seriously beholden to the federal government. Seniors have been backed into a financial corner by being so dependent on Social Security payments. By threatening to withhold payments, the government effectively extorts their support. After we are all dependent on the government for health care, we will all be vulnerable to the same type of threats and extortion.

Obama's scare tactics put real meaning into this quote:

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
Benjamin Franklin