Is Obama playing Godfather with the CBO?
As you probably know, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is an independent government organization that is designed, organized, and protected, so that it stays 100% non-partisan. This essentially means that the American people, as well as Congress, can trust the budget numbers coming out of the CBO as legit, without having to wonder or question if the economic numbers are being manipulated toward a political agenda.
Unfortunately, President Obama just can’t handle that the the CBO is putting out financial data that sheds a negative light on his agenda. The Heritage Foundation, Foxnews, and Hotair.com are reporting a possible ‘Godfather’ attempt at strong-arming the chief of the Congressional Budget Office…. An excerpt from the heritage article is below…
According to President Obama’s televised remarks, he recently met with Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Doug Elmendorf to discuss health care reform. Of course, the President may desire to meet with anyone if he believes such a meeting can help advance his agenda. However, it is extremely disturbing for a senior staff person employed by the Legislative branch of our government to be meeting with the head of the Executive branch, most especially at a time when the CBO is among the most key participants in the ongoing health care reform debate.
The CBO was established to provide the Congress with independent, non-partisan analysis of the state of the economy, the budget outlook, budget options, and the budgetary effects of legislation under consideration by the Congress. It is an institution within the Legislative branch. CBO has worked hard, often under difficult circumstances, to establish its expertise, its independence, and its non-partisan credentials under Democratic and Republican leadership.
Of course, conversations occur between CBO and OMB staff regarding technical matters and various logistical issues. But historically, the OMB and the White House have been careful not to overstep this relationship to impugn the independence of the CBO. Likewise, CBO staff and Directors have carefully guarded their reputations against undue pressure from their congressional masters or their Executive Branch colleagues. Until now.
If this is a political strong-arm technique to make the CBO play ball with Obama’s health care objective, then this is extremely unethical and disturbing development. The analysis from the Congressional Budget Office must be completely independant from any political party or agenda. The reporting of inaccurate information would lead to extremely bad decisions by Congress, and unprecedented manipulation of the American people. It must be stopped at all costs!
Unfortunately, we now must begin analyzing and questioning the CBO’s data on Obama’s political objectives – It is officially tainted.
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