President Obama has doubled the deficit

Congratulations to my partner for presenting his arguments, I look forward to his closing summary. I will begin my own at once, just as soon as I've a chance to quickly address a few minor, last moment rebuttals. First, I never said that Obama has spent less than Eisenhower, as was claimed. I simply pointed out that new federal spending is growing at a historically slow rate. In other words, President Obama has slowed the growth of the rate of new federal spending to historic lows. So slow is the rate of new federal spending under Obama, that one must evaluate presidents as far back as Eisenhower to find his tightwadding equal. In order for him to have spent less (in total spending), I am afraid that he would have needed a different predecessor. Also, although the United States did provide military aid to the people of Libya in the closing days of the Qaddafi regime, this was not a "war." If this type of action can qualify as a form of warfighting, then we have been at war with Palestine for nearly half a century. Also, and I had thought that this was a typo, and so neglected to draw much attention to it, "stabilize" does not mean what I think my partner thinks that it means. His statements that include this word actually mean that Obama has prevented the damage to our fiscal crisis from becoming worse. If this was intentional, then I appreciate my partners assistance (and chivalry) in arguing on my behalf. If it was not, I would like to remind our judges to please score for grammar. In the end, it does not matter how many spending items are presented as proof that President Obama has doubled the deficit. With the "PayGo" legislation that he and the Democratic congress passed, all future spending must be offset by cuts in other programs or with new revenues. Besides, and importantly, if these new spending initiatives do not cross the magical threshold of $2.3 trillion in any one year, then my argument that Obama has not crossed that threshold - and doubled the deficit stands. It does not matter if his ears are rather large, or even if he eats kittens. If he has not doubled the annual deficit by being the person responsible for spending more than $2.3 trillion, then my premise has not been dispelled. And so, here is the final presentation of my argument:I feel that my argument, that "President Obama has not doubled the national deficit" is justified, and represents an accurate statement of fact. I support this claim with some help from the Congressional Budget Office, the non partisan agency that tracks such records. According to this reputable source, the annual deficit when President Obama took over the budgetary responsibilities of his office, was $1.19 trillion. Today, that deficit has dropped to $1.09 trillion. A necessary condition of "doubling" the deficit is that it must have increased somewhat.Therefore, I think that my best argument in support of the statement that "President Obama has not doubled the deficit" is to point out that the deficit is lower than when he took office. Also that it never doubled. Also that my partner has fully conceded this fact. Observe: "I will be the first to admit the deficit has not been run up to $2.3 trillion." - The Underdog.According to the most commonly held rules of debate, such a concession is always seen as fairly conclusive.I'll separate my premises. P1. The deficit is lower than when the president took officeP2. In order to have doubled in size, the deficit would have had to have increased by 100%, not shrunkConclusion: The deficit has not doubledAdditionally: According to the US Constitution, all spending must originate in the legislative branch. President Obama cannot legally raise, or spend, any taxpayer money without congressional approval. Therefore, President Obama, as a member of the Executive Branch, could not have doubled the deficit - even if the deficit had doubled. [1] Although the president has a considerable degree of influence throughout this process, he must answer to the congress ultimately. I would have embarassed myself if I had neglected to mention this, at least in passing. Read my references, look over the fact-checking groups such as Politifact and FactCheck.org, and see. This president has not doubled the deficit. This is an accurate statement of fact.I would like to thank my debate partner for joining me in this discussion, and I want to encourage any who might have read over this debate to please reward our efforts by voting. Our performances here will be best recognized, by your voting on who is most correct in the question of whether or not the nations annual deficit has doubled over the last three years. I say that it has not, and the CBO and a myriad of fact-checkers agree. Please vote "Con."[1] Wiki on the US Constitution: http://en.wikipedia.org...