White House: Obama Vote Against Raising Debt Limit a ‘Mistake’
If President Obama knew then what he knows now, he would not have voted against raising the debt limit in 2006.
That was the explanation trotted out by the White House Monday, as it sought to square the administration’s pleas to Congress to lift the debt ceiling by next month against Obama’s voting history. As a senator in 2006, Obama voted against raising the debt limit. But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the president now views that vote as a “mistake.”
“He now believes it was a mistake,” Carney said. He said Obama understands that senators want to make it clear when they disagree with the administration but that there are other ways to go about doing it. He said the debt ceiling vote is not something Washington “can play around with,” warning that a failure to lift the cap would be “Armageddon-like” for the economy.