Debt ceiling limits are one of those issues that look different depending on perspective — and by perspective, I mean of course whether the President is from your party or not. Allahpundit pointed out yesterday how perspective changes when one becomes President, but that’s not the only way it changes. Mary Katharine Ham shows how it affects, say, Senate Majority Leaders:

“If my Republican friends believe that increasing our debt by almost $800 billion today and more than $3 trillion over the last five years is the right thing to do, they should be upfront about it. They should explain why they think more debt is good for the economy.

How can the Republican majority in this Congress explain to their constituents that trillions of dollars in new debt is good for our economy? How can they explain that they think it’s fair to force our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren to finance this debt through higher taxes. That’s what it will have to be. Why is it right to increase our nation’s dependence on foreign creditors?

They should explain this. Maybe they can convince the public they’re right. I doubt it. Because most Americans know that increasing debt is the last thing we should be doing. After all, I repeat, the Baby Boomers are about to retire. Under the circumstances, any credible economist would tell you we should be reducing debt, not increasing it.Democrats won’t be making argument to supper this legalization, which will weaken our country. Weaken our county.”

Unfortunately, thanks to Reid and that stalwart deficit hawk Nancy Pelosi, we have little choice but to increase the debt limit to forestall a massive and ruinous default until we can change the structure of entitlements and the federal budget to reduce spending enough to live within our means.