You can't blame debt on Obama

It's difficult, often, to choose which concern to address. Then E. Thomas McClanahan's column "White House living in parallel universe" (Jan. 16) comes along and voila!

McClanahan, a conservative, uses incomplete and biased arguments, as in "Most people understand that the major reason for deficits is the spending that came soon after (the recession arrived)." Not exactly.

The debt rose $5 trillion under George W. Bush during the bubble years. This was mostly due to huge tax cuts, two unfunded wars and costly drug benefits. When the bubble burst, bailouts and stimulus were used to rescue the teetering economy from an authentic fiscal cliff. An emergency response, plus ongoing help for the impoverished, is portrayed as some sort of presidential whim.

The two cherry-picked President Obama quotes, described as opposites, actually say the same thing: Current health care costs are unsustainable.

Most people, hopefully, understand that Mr. Obama has looked for prudent spending cuts concomitant with revenue increase. The author denies this, downplays the overweight defense budget and ignores Republicans' rejection of fair tax rates.

I don't mind reading criticism of the president and Democrats; I have some myself. But such a prejudicial viewpoint and mischaracterizations are unacceptable.

DIANA DOLL

Modesto