During his interview with Brian Williams of NBC, President Obama was surprised at the slow growth of the economy, but confident he had the plan to turn it around:
Well, look, we anticipated that the recovery was slowing. The economy is still growing, but it’s not growing as fast as it needs to. I’ve got things right now in–before Congress that we should move immediately, and I’ve said so before I went on vacation and I’ll keep on saying it when I–now that I’m back. We should be passing legislation that helps small businesses get credit, that eliminates capital gains taxes so that they have more incentive to invest right now. There are a whole host of measures that we could take, no single element of which is a magic bullet, but cumulatively could start continuing to build momentum for the recovery.
Oh wait, that was from the interview he gave to Williams on August 29 of last year.
Maybe that’s why, when Obama had his Sputnik moment yesterday, his head moving back and forth in geosynchronous orbit between two large carbon-footprint monitors pressed into service as outdoor teleprompters at the Oval Office during a three minute speech to introduce big labor’s Alan Krueger to serve as chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers, it seemed like just another summer rerun.
Surveying the wreckage of the Obama White House and its brain trust, Steve Green comes to an unfortunate, but increasingly obvious conclusion: “Obama to Unemployed: He’s Just Not That Into You:”
Talk to an unemployed American, and he’ll tell you what he really wants to do is find a job. And Americans are willing to take most any job. Because on top of the 9.1% unemployment rate, is a further 7% or so who are underemployed — people who took part-time work because that’s all they could get.
In just the past four months, Obamanomics has killed nearly a million full-time jobs. It’s a good bet that’s another 900,000 people who won’t be voting for Obama next year.
On paper, it all seemed so smart. Give the liberal base the huge expansion in government they craved. Give out the big “green” payouts to the environmentalists. Complete the merger of DC with Wall Street. Prop up the unions. Break big business to the saddle while suffocating the entrepreneurs who might prove a threat — all to keep the money flowing into DC to buy off the poor proles crushed by the new system.
In reality, it hasn’t worked so well. As it turned out, there aren’t enough liberals in this country to make bigger government any more popular than it ever was. “Green” jobs went bust too soon before the election. The fugly DC/Wall Street hybrid is sucking the life out of finance. The unions can’t deliver the votes anymore. And the private sector might be saddled — but it can’t run fast enough to make the economy grow that way.
And the proles aren’t bought off — we’re pissed off.
Which helps to explain why, according to Gallup, a new poll shows “Government’s Image at All-Time Low.” As Peter Wehner writes at Commentary, “Liberals assume office because of their enormous confidence in government to do good – and they often leave office having convinced much of the public of just the opposite. Which is why Barack Obama may be among the best things to happen to conservatism since Ronald Wilson Reagan. Having felt the effects of liberalism up close and personal, the alternative looks mighty fine right about now.”
Incidentally, while this summer was nothing but reruns from the White House, one way or another, next summer’s viewing should be especially interesting….
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