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I don’t know about you, but I’m getting sick and tired of this president waiting until the last minute to take care of problems that are entirely of his own making. Now, I don’t know if this method of governing is the result of this man never having been held to account for his irresponsible actions in his personal and/or professional life, or if it is by design. 

My guess is it is a little bit of both.

However, as the old saying goes, “Failure to plan on your part DOES NOT constitute an emergency on my part.” 

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US President Barack Obama urged polarized lawmakers to find an “11th hour” deal to avert a calamitous early August debt default and heaped praise on a newly unveiled bipartisan budget plan.

Obama cited “some progress” in talks with Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives on raising the US debt ceiling, but warned time was running out to forge a broad deficit-cutting compromise.

“The problem we have now is, we’re in the 11th hour, and we don’t have a lot more time left,” he said in a hurriedly announced public appearance at the White House on Tuesday, noting plans for a fresh round of negotiations on Wednesday.

Washington hit its debt ceiling on May 16 and has used spending and accounting adjustments, as well as higher-than-expected tax receipts, to continue operating normally, but can only do so until August 2.

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Did you catch that?

WE ALREADY HIT THE DEBT CEILING.

We hit the debt ceiling on May 16^th.  Surprise, surprise, folks – the country didn’t come to a grinding halt; in fact, things just kept on going.  Adjustments were made, checks still went out, and the government went about its business as if nothing had happened.

In point of fact, the president has known that this deadline has been looming SINCE MAY and this president has been perfectly happy to let things go until the very last minute.

Not only that, he knew well in advance that he had a big birthday bash coming up on August 4^th – a gala fundraiser to celebrate his 50^th birthday – and a swank vacation on Martha’s Vineyard with the wife, the kids, and his entourage immediately following that shindig.

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A cynical person might begin to think that perhaps that August 2^nd deadline was a contrived date, and that this “crisis” had been manufactured.

Finance and business leaders have warned that failure to raise the US debt ceiling by then could send shock waves through a world economy still reeling from the 2008 collapse, while Obama has predicted economic “Armageddon.”

A cynical person might begin to wonder why the Credit Rating companies all started warning about an August 2^nd deadline instead of a May 16^th deadline.  Did anyone hear these same companies predicting gloom and doom and the end of the free world as we know it back in March or April?  Anyone?

A cynical person might begin to wonder if these same Credit Rating companies might not have a more political agenda.  A cynical person might start to think that perhaps there is some coordinating going on behind the scenes.

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A cynical person might begin to think that maybe a less-than-scrupulous person would go so far as to scare little old ladies into thinking that they might not have enough money to buy food and pay their bills by announcing that the money won’t be there unless somebody does something RIGHT NOW, and by golly, he’s going to be the one to swoop in and save the day.  Never mind that the doomsday scenario would never have come to pass – the suggestion that it might and the perception that this charlatan is a white knight on a steed is all that matters.

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A cynical person might think that a person hungry for adulation would just love to be lauded as “THE HERO” at a birthday party that is doubling as a fundraiser. 

After all, everyone wants to donate money to the guy who saved the grannies, right?