Paul Ryan Says President Clinton Would Have Dealt With Debt

In his appearance on Meet the Press this morning Paul Ryan attacked Barack Obama’s seriousness on debt issues by comparing him to former President Bill Clinton.

Ryan was asked by host David Gregory about a recent moment when he chatted with former President Clinton and his wife, outgoing Secretary of State Clinton at a post-inaugural luncheon. Ryan revealed that it was a personal chat about medical issues “I got concussions when I was young and Hillary was telling me about hers. We were just kind of chumming it up.”

At that point Ryan pivoted back to politics and in particular the national debt saying “Now look, if we had a Clinton presidency, if we had Erskine Bowles [as] Chief of Staff of the White House or President of the United States, I think we would have fixed this fiscal mess by now. That’s not the kind of presidency we’re dealing with right now.”

Challenged by Gregory on whether the Republican party was to blame for the current impasse, Ryan responded, “Both parties got us to the mess we’re in.” Nevertheless, the overall impact of Ryan’s comments was a critique of President Obama in comparison to Bill Clinton. Here’s the full exchange courtesy of Gateway Pundit: