Jeb Bush has had enough. After more than three years of George W. Bush-bashing by President Obama, whining how tough it was when he took office thanks to the policies of his predecessor, the former Florida governor is telling the president to quit blaming his brother for the economic problems of the country.
On Meet the Press:
Jeb Bush says it’s time for President Obama to stop blaming his brother for the nation’s problems.
“I mean, look, the guy (Obama) was dealt a difficult hand, no question about it,” Bush said on NBC’s Meet The Press. “But he’s had three years. His policies have failed.”
Obama rarely mentions Bush by name on the campaign trail. But the president does say that Republican Mitt Romney is seeking to revive the economic policies that led to the financial meltdown of 2008, George W. Bush’s last year in office.
On NBC, Jeb Bush said perhaps Obama should “offer some fresh new solutions to the problems that we face,” but he added: “That’s not going to happen between now and Election Day.”
You have probably read dozens of analyses in the last 3 years trying to explain what happened, who’s to blame, and how President Obama’s policies have helped or hurt our economic situation. The fact that academically speaking, there is a divergence of opinion about all of those things makes assessing Obama’s role in the continued jobs recession a matter of opinion. Some believe he helped avoid a much deeper recession or even depression. Others point to his radical overhaul of healthcare and massive new regulatory schemes as creating an uncertain business climate that discourages job creation.
One thing should not be a matter of opinion: The lack of focus on jobs by this administration. Obama’s solution has been to throw money at the problem, including the astonishing notion that expanding unemployment benefits out to 100 weeks is a stimulus for the economy. Regardless, the GOP has passed several of the president’s “jobs” initiatives that have had no effect whatsoever on the employment situation.
This is the mark of a failed presidency. The problems we face may be severe, but rather than asking “Are you better off than you were 4 years ago,” perhaps Romney should be asking “Have the president’s policies done anything to alleviate joblessness in America?” No amount of blaming his predecessor (or “obstructionism” by the GOP House) should be used as an excuse. For two full years the president had an historical majority in the House and the Senate and failed — utterly and completely — to begin addressing the problem of unemployment.
He is a failed leader who squandered his enormous political advantages in a personal quest to “make history” by passing a gargantuan health care reform bill whose effects on the budget, on the quality of health care, and on the future of liberty in America still cannot be measured accurately. While he was otherwise engaged, the unemployment figure shot up to 10% with nothing but a few obligatory asides in his speeches for the plight of jobless citizens.
A real leader takes responsibility for their own actions. Obama constantly trying to shift blame for his own failures is not only unseemly, but reveals a man who was never ready for the weighty job of president in the first place.
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