McConnell: Obama 'Needs to Become Adult' on National Debt

President Barack Obama lacks leadership and “needs to become the adult” on the issue of the national debt, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“We have a debt now bigger than our economy,” McConnell said. “That alone makes us look a lot like Greece.”

McConnell said he would like to engage in a congressional discussion about raising the debt ceiling and is waiting for an official request from the White House.

“Whenever the president’s willing to engage, we’re ready to go,” he said.

The Kentucky congressman doesn’t expect that request to come prior to the election.

“Without presidential leadership, nothing can be accomplished,” McConnell said. “We didn’t have presidential leadership last year. It’s pretty clear the president’s not going to lead on this anytime soon.”

He said the Democratic Party isn’t taking the debt crisis seriously.

“You know how the Democrats raised the debt ceiling in the previous Congress?” he asked. “They air-dropped it into Obamacare. Nobody got to vote on it. That’s how seriously they take the debt ceiling.

“At some point here, this president needs to become the adult, because the speaker [John Boehner] and I have been the adults in the room, arguing that we ought to do something about the nation’s most serious, long-term problem,” he added.