The Obama administration is doing what it can to make sure the effects of the government shutdown are felt by the American public, doing everything from shutting down national parks to suspending death benefits for the families of fallen soldiers.

Of course, all the politicians responsible have managed to keep paying themselves.

Despite all the scare tactics, only 17 percent of the government is shut down, according to the Congressional Budget Office. With the rhetoric being pushed by the administration, you would think the country has been pushed to anarchy.

When Republicans forced this shutdown, they did so to protect their constituents from the grips of Obamacare, which will force Americans to buy unwanted and unaffordable medical insurance policies that provide poor coverage.

You probably know someone who has already lost their current health care plan or seen their coverage costs go up.

The same can be said for someone who is seeing their hours cut, or being laid off altogether, due to the harmful policies Obamacare imposes on businesses.

Still, the spotlight has shifted from this terrible policy to Republicans, who are being blamed for every effect of this “shutdown,” aided by the gross exaggerations of the Obama administration.

The shutdown isn’t the only subject of the administration’s scare tactics: Obama has threatened that if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling by Oct. 17, he will default on the debt owed by the U.S. government.

Such a threat has no basis in reality, and is a testimony to the president’s willingness to hold the American public hostage in order to achieve his goals.

First off, there is no reason the United States would ever default, debt increase or not. The government brings in $250 billion in monthly tax revenues, and its current interest payment on its debt is only $20 billion per month, according to The Washington Times.

Secondly, when Republicans argue that a debt increase should only be met with spending cuts, they are met with widespread heckling by the administration and congressional Democrats.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said shortly before the government went into shutdown mode that “The cupboard is bare. There’s no more cuts to make.”

Pelosi also called Republicans “legislative arsonists,” and days later Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) ridiculed his opponents as “Tea Party anarchists.”

It doesn’t take an expert to see through all these slanderous accusations and understand the extent to which our government spends wastefully and needlessly on behalf of special interests and lobbying groups.

In fact, once upon a time, even a young senator named Barack Obama understood the irresponsible spending of government and its negative and lasting effects on the American people.

When the U.S. government raised the debt ceiling in 2006, Senator Obama said that in doing so, “Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”

Back then, Senator Obama opposed raising the debt ceiling from $8.1 trillion to $8.9 trillion. Today, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the national debt is estimated at $17 trillion, nearly doubling after five years of his reign.

I guess a lot changes once you become president. You have to make sure all those special interests get the money they want, and that all those who contributed to your causes and campaigns get what you promised them.

You can call it hypocrisy, or false pretenses, or just flat out lies, but maybe Obama said it best himself: what we have here is one giant failure of leadership.

Nick Smith is a senior broadcast and digital journalism major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at nxsmith@syr.edu and followed on Twitter at @Nick_X_Smith.

Published on October 14, 2013 at 1:21 am