What is so hard about the term "Debt Limit"?

Dear Mr. President,
   Do you have trouble with the term "Speed Limit"?  It means the top speed you can legally attain under optimal conditions.  If you call something a "debt limit" but continue to raise it, it is no longer a limit.  Let's look at a few of your comments on the matter from recent talks;

Obama repeated his warning that the country is "running out of time" to avert a financial “Armageddon.”
Obama said he is still pushing for a “big” deal to raise the debt ceiling by the Aug. 2 deadline despite the hardening of positions on Capitol Hill.
"I always have hope," Obama said. "Don't you remember my campaign?"

Yes, Mr. President we remember everything.  Seems like you may have forgotten some of your own advice proffered before your election.  Let me remind you:

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government can not pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies.

…Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here'. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and Grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”

Barack Obama March 2006

To the Republican Senators who are ready to cave at the slightest pressure from the liberal left I say get your retirement packages secured soon.  We are tired of a lack of leadership at the top levels of government.  Everyone I know is ready for huge cuts in social programs, and no one I know wants to increase the debt limit or taxes.  It is time to take an ax to wasteful spending and balance our national budget.

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure,

the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy,

its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery..."

-- Winston Churchill