Obama Has Forgotten Gingrich And The Last Government Shutdown

Mandeville, LA – Exclusive Transcript – There’s President Obama out there saying [mocking] “Never before in history has anyone ever used leverage to try not to raise the debt ceiling.”  Gingrich is out there I guess listening to this, raising his hand and saying: Um, excuse me, we did.  In 1995 and 1996, we did.  I have the email blast from former Speaker Gingrich.  It was an interesting read.  Check out today’s transcript for the rest…

Begin Mike Church Show Transcript

Mike:  Did you sign me up for Gingrich’s newsletter?  Is that how I got it?

AG:  Can’t say I did.

Mike:  Okay.  Well, thank you very much.  I was going to say if you did, thanks for thinking of me but no thanks.  In any event, Newt actually has — [mocking] “Mike, you hate Newt.”  I don’t hate anyone.  I disagree with Gingrich and he is most certainly a gamer of that revolving door system that has been patented inside Mordor on the Potomac.  That does not rise to the level of hatred.  In any event, his email newsletter yesterday is eye-opening.  There’s President Obama out there saying [mocking] “Never before in history has anyone ever used leverage to try not to raise the debt ceiling.”  Gingrich is out there I guess listening to this, raising his hand and saying: Um, excuse me, we did.  In 1995 and 1996, we did.  I have the email blast from former Speaker Gingrich.  It was an interesting read.  I enjoyed reading the story, so I thought I’d bring it in and share it with you as we talk about the ongoing temporary interruption of non-essential wealth transfer payments.  That’s what it is.  Gingrich writes, in part:

[reading]

After claiming that never “in the history of the United States” had elected officials used the debt ceiling as political leverage (false), and after insinuating that it’s somehow unusual to expect presidents to negotiate over spending bills (absurd), Obama yesterday mixed a false history of the Clinton-Gingrich shutdowns into his press room lecture.

Mike Church Show Transcript – Who’s Really To Blame For The Government Shutdown?

“[B]ack in the ’90s we had a government shutdown,” he said. “That happened one time, and then after that, the Republican Party and Mr. Gingrich realized this isn’t a sensible way to do business. You know, we shouldn’t engage in brinksmanship like this, and then they started having a serious conversation with President Clinton about a whole range of issues, and they got some things that they wanted. They had to give the Democrats some things that the Democrats wanted. But it took on, you know, a sense of normal democratic process.”

[end reading]

Mike:  Folks, I actually have that sound bite.  I could play it for you.  Since every time I play an Obama clip I get an email boxful of hate mail from some of you people, I’ll just do the Obama impersonation and just read it whenever I have the transcript in front of me.

For the rest of today’s transcript please sign up for a Founders Pass or if you’re already a member, make sure you are logged in!
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[reading]

As one of the principal negotiators in the 1995-1996 budget showdown between Republicans and President Clinton, it is clear to me the President has a number of very important things wrong.

First, there were two shutdowns, not one, and that was important. In mid-November of 1995, the government closed for several days after Clinton vetoed our Continuing Resolution which contained more spending cuts than he was willing to accept.

The public blamed Republicans for the first shutdown much more than they blamed Clinton. A CNN/Gallup poll released at the time found that Americans blamed the GOP over the President by 2-to-1, 49 percent to 26 percent. In part this was because the press was anti-Republican. But in part it was because we’d made so clear beforehand that we were willing to close the government if necessary.

The pressure on us to cave was enormous. Instead, we refused to give-in, and worked with President Clinton to pass a very short-term extension of government funding and increase in the debt ceiling as negotiations continued. A month later, no compromise had been reached, and despite the media pressure on us, we allowed the government to close again, this time for three weeks.

Which leads to President Obama’s second false claim: that it wasn’t until after the shutdowns that we began a “serious conversation” with President Clinton to advance our priorities.

This could not be more mistaken. Clinton and I spoke virtually every day during the shutdowns. We were constantly negotiating. And more importantly, although the shutdowns were in some ways a temporary PR setback for Republicans (they did no lasting damage), they were critical in convincing the President and the country that we were serious about doing what said we’d do in 1994–and that we were willing to be tough to get it done. That was of enormous strategic value going forward.

President Obama is right that the shutdowns of 1995 were a pivotal moment which cleared the way for the success Republicans had afterward. But he’s very wrong about the reason.

It was after the shutdowns and significantly because of them that we achieved some of the greatest growth and opportunity for all Americans in a generation.

In 1996, we passed welfare reform, and in the next several years two out of every three Americans on welfare either went to work or went to school.

The House Republican majority was reelected for the first time since 1928.

We passed four consecutive balanced budgets, the only ones in our lifetimes.

We cut taxes for the first time in 17 years, including the largest capital gains tax cut in American history. [Mike: Let’s not deal with the issue of whether or not there ought to be taxes on capital gains. We’ll leave that on the side for just a moment, for those of you screaming at your radio wondering why I didn’t pick up on that. We will. We’ll get to it another day.]

These big victories very well might not have happened if not for the shutdowns in 1995-1996.

The policy changes helped power an economic boom so big that it produced a $5 trillion turnaround in the fiscal outlook of the United States between January 1995 and January 1999, from a $2.7 trillion deficit over ten years to a $2.3 trillion surplus. The nation’s ten-year debt outlook went from 56 percent of GDP to just 12 percent.

What President Obama calls “brinksmanship” and not a “sensible way to do business” may be one of the most successful negotiations ever for Americans.

Republicans today face a very similar challenge to the one we faced in 1995, and with similar pressure to cave. Yet just as in 1995, they are proving to the President that he must take the Congress seriously.

Americans should hope Obama learns that lesson as well as President Clinton did, and with such strong results.

[end reading]

Church Doctrine Video – A REAL American Horror Story: The National Debt

Mike:  That is from Speaker Gingrich’s email blast.  You can actually find that on one of Newt’s websites, I’m not sure which one.  I wanted to share that with you because you’re going to hear an awful lot today about how Boehner ought to take the deal, or Cantor ought to take the deal, or Paul Ryan is making the deal and the GOP ought to take the deal.  Why?  Why should you take the deal?  There’s not going to be a default because there’s already been a bill sent over to pay the bills.  If Harry Reid doesn’t want to bring it up, then that’s on him.  If there is a default –– folks, again, I don’t believe that is possible.  If there is to be one, it won’t be because of the Republicans in the House.

End Mike Church Show Transcript

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