In the coming days and weeks, our leaders will fiercely debate the necessity of increasing our national debt ceiling over the current $14.3 trillion. Since 2009, the Obama administration has piled on more than $4 trillion in debt in just 2 1/2 years. That’s more than any other president over a far greater time period.

In 2006, then-Sen. Barack Obama had the opportunity to cast a vote on whether to increase the debt ceiling during the Bush administration.  It should come as no surprise that Obama voted “no” to increasing the debt ceiling — and essentially voted “yes” to having the United States of America default on its obligations to the American people and other nations that hold our debt.

But now President Obama has a different take on our national debt as he tries to convince Republican members of both houses that they owe it to the American people to vote “yes” to increasing our nation’s debt. Why should we believe him now? Why should any Republican support this president and vote to increase our debt?

Reason: Because it’s the right thing to do. Too bad Obama saw it differently just three years before becoming president. Was then-Sen. Obama practicing demagoguery or did he truly not recognize the consequences of his vote? 

When our leaders discuss increasing our nation’s debt, they should do so in a manner that guarantees the American people that this is the last time they will be coming to the well. The only way to accomplish such a goal is allow amendments to the bill that require spending cuts and reforms to entitlement programs. The president says that a bill increasing the debt ceiling should be a “clean bill” with no amendments. Republicans disagree.

On Monday, Standard & Poor’s slapped a negative outlook to the United States’ top-notch credit rating, which actually left Germany and France with higher ratings than the United States. Additionally, Standard & Poor’s expressed concern that there is a “material risk” if lawmakers fail to reach an agreement and if meaningful implementation does not begin by 2013. In February, PIMCO, the nation’s largest bond manager, announced it was selling all of its holdings in United States treasuries. Both of these events should be a wake-up call to the Obama administration that we must get our deficit spending under control — and to do so, we must address entitlement spending and reform our tax system.

Entitlement spending accounts for nearly 60 percent of our total spending, while the interest on our debt is fast approaching 10 percent. Nearly everyone agrees you cannot get deficit spending under control without addressing entitlements. Instead of making tough decisions about our nation’s debt and deficits, Obama continues to use demagoguery to scare our seniors and others into believing that the Republican Party is an evil group of Americans hellbent on destroying America by endorsing capitalism and free enterprise.  What Republicans favor is shoring up the systems we have in place to protect seniors both now and in the future.

In his address last week on his budget proposal, Obama continued to blame the Republican Party for all problems that his administration faces today. He laid blame on the Bush administration for getting us in “two” wars. Did he forget the war in Afghanistan was a result of 9/11 and was overwhelmingly approved by both houses of Congress and the American people?

On Sept. 20, 2001, President George W. Bush told a joint session of Congress, “Americans should not expect one battle but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have ever seen.” The Iraq war was a mistake, granted, but is not the war in Libya also an unwise endeavor at this juncture in our history? Furthermore, Obama continues to blame the Bush administration for passing the senior drug benefit, which was not paid for. Yet he fails to mention Democratic proposals that were much larger — and also unpaid for.

The time has long passed to quit blaming the Republican Party and using demagoguery just to get re-elected.

Gordon Robinson is president of Robinson Media, which owns the Tribune-Herald .