July's unemployment numbers will be released next week and most analysts see it difficult to imagine how those numbers will drop below the current 8.1%.
Wait....this is what recovery feels like?
Well, apparently if you were to ask the president, he would tell you it is.
Just this week, President Obama stood in front of supporters and tried to make the case that his economic policies are working. In regards to the state of our economy and tax increases, Obama said, "Just like we've tried their plan, we tried our plan. And it worked."
It worked? It did? That is amazing.
How should we break it to the overly qualified individuals who are still tirelessly standing in employment lines? Or to those who are working multiple jobs to make ends meet? How about our countless neighbors who are about to lose their homes? Or to the many families who are struggling to pay their bills?
How about the 200,000 small businesses who have closed their doors since 2008 which eradicated in excess of 3 million jobs?
Does the president really feel that he can tell those Americans that things are working?
No, because they are not.
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| Image from NYDailynews.com |
Unemployment remains over 8% for the 41st month straight---the GDP has dropped to some of its lowest levels of Obama's presidency---there is a drastic slowdown in private-sector hiring---more Americans are dependent on food stamps than any other time in history and yet, our president is trying to make the case that his efforts have worked?
(In honor of President Clinton, I guess that all just depends on what the definition of "worked" is).
The Obama camp is of course crying foul and furious that the president's words have been "taken out of context."
Please. If the president wants to run his campaign on his record, then it is is utterly absurd to get offended when people want to remind him of exactly what that record is. The truth remains, he has a lousy record. The economy is in the toilet and our country is teetering on another recession.
What are his proposals for his second term? More stimulus packages and higher taxes to pay for it.
Wait, I think we have been trying that for the past 3 1/2 years. It hasn't worked. Why would more time make it more effective?
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He has certainly tried to fix the mess and he has been overly optimistic in just about everything he has tried. He promised that is $800 billion stimulus would bring unemployment below 8%. It didn't. Most recently, his administration predicted that the GDP for 2012 would be around 4%. It isn't. He also predicted that Americans were going to love healthcare reform. We don't.
It is important to remember however, that back in 2009, a newly inaugurated President Obama said of his plan to fix the financial crisis he inherited, "if I don't have this done in three years, then there is going to be a one-term proposition."
This is the one prediction he actually got right. He accurately predicted one-term and I think we should hold him to it.
As Mitt Romney so frequently reminds his supporters, "We are here to collect." It is time for change---economic change.
It is time to finally get this economy into the hands of an individual whose career has more substance than that of a community organizer and into the hands of an individual with a lengthy and sterling career of actually turning things around.
Go Mitt.
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