Obama To Letterman: I Don’t Remember How Much The National Debt Is [Video]

Not close enough for government work?

President Barack Obama went on the Letterman show and told Dave (see clip below) that he didn’t remember how much the National Debt was. He was responding to Letterman’s question about the National Debt Clock that was a prominent feature of the Republican National Convention last month in Tampa.

Imagine just for a second how this would be treated by the mainstream media if Gov. Mitt Romney had a similar lapse in memory about such a fundamental issue.

In the Letterman interview, President Obama also insisted that the National Debt was nothing to worry about in the short term.

The National Debt is a staggering $16 trillion, a number that most of us can’t even comprehend. According to CBS News, the National Debt increased by about $5 trillion in the Obama’s first term alone; it took the Bush administration eight years to run up that level of massive red ink. It also “now exceeds 100% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, the total value of goods and services.”

There is plenty of blame on the part of both political parties to go around for the financial mess the country finds itself in. Commenting on the Letterman appearance, however, the Powerline blog opines the following:

“Obama’s answer was a masterpiece of prevarication. He described how the debt originated, and claimed, falsely, that he inherited a $1 trillion deficit. In fact, this country had never run a deficit anywhere near $1 trillion until FY 2009, the first year of the Obama administration.”

In a development directly related to the federal debt and the deficit, the Washington Examiner is reporting that the number of able-bodied Americans on food stamps has doubled after the Obama administration suspended certain work requirements for welfare programs.

Although the president apparently is thus far too busy to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu about the Iranian nuclear threat, his trip to New York also included a campaign fundraiser with Jay-Z and Beyonce that featured some interesting decor according to London’s Daily Mail:

President Barack Obama attended a $40,000 per ticket fundraiser at Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club in Manhattan that featured a champagne tower of 350 bottles worth $105,000 – more than twice the median household income of an American family.

The tower of $300-a-bottle Armand de Brignac Brut Gold, known as ‘Ace of Spades’ because of its label, is a permanent fixture at the club.

In terms of the ongoing media firestorm about Romney’s gaffe about 47% (i.e., the Obama’ voting bloc) supposedly being dependent on government benefits, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said in a radio interview that “Some people in the media should just turn in their media credential and get an ‘Obama for president’ credential, the way they focus on things that people said back last May.” As reported by Washington Times, Gov. Christie also claimed that that news media is trying to shift attention “away from what he considers the president’s ‘poor performance’ and ‘lack of a plan for the next four years.’”

Watch President Barack Obama say he doesn’t remember what the National Debt is precisely (about the two-minute mark):

[iframe src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/6D55384wiUg?rel=0? width=”420? height=”315?]

Given the grave financial danger that the country faces with the federal deficit and the debt, should a president or presidential candidate know the exact amount of the National Debt?