This is not a repeat from a couple of weeks ago, when President Obama blamed his lack of “storytelling” for his weak poll numbers. Wait, it is repeat of that. That’s exactly what this is.
You said one of the mistakes you see in the first term was not telling that story better. What does it mean to tell the story better in the next four years?
Well, what I meant by that is that we were in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime crisis, so we had to just do stuff fast. And sometimes it wasn’t popular. And we didn’t have the luxury of six months to explain exactly what we were doing with the Recovery Act, which was basically a jobs act and making-sure-middle-class-families-didn’t-fall-into-poverty act.
23 million unemployed = failure.
And there were all kinds of things we could do to have explained that effectively, but we didn’t have time. The auto bailout — now a lot of people are coming around and saying that was the right thing to do. But at the time, I think it polled at 10%. And we didn’t have time to worry about that. We had a million jobs at stake in places like Ohio and Michigan, and we needed to make sure that we acted quickly.
So moving forward, what I want to make sure the American people understand is that investments in education, investments in basic science and research, an all-of-the-above American energy strategy, in making college more affordable, in rebuilding our infrastructure, our roads and our bridges and our ports and our airports — all those things that help make us grow are compatible with fiscal discipline as long as everybody is doing their fair share.
And that’s a story I’m doing my best to tell during the campaign. That’s a story I will continue to try to tell, if I’m fortunate enough to have a second term, in Inaugurations, in States of the Union. I want to make sure that people understand that I’ve got a focus on growing this economy, not growing the public sector, but doing enough to ensure that we’ve got the best workers in the world, we’ve got the best technology in the world and we’re competitive in the 21st century.
So, four more years = more of the same policies and more speeches to convince us not to believe our lyin’ eyes.
The Romney campaign, here in force in Tampa, was quick to respond. Romney spokesman Ryan Williams pounced: “Just last night, Paul Ryan clearly communicated that the problem with the Obama Administration is a lack of leadership in the White House, not a lack of empty political rhetoric. But President Obama believes that he hasn’t communicated enough and would use a second term to focus on becoming a better storyteller. America doesn’t need a storyteller-in-chief. We need a leader who will work to create jobs, strengthen the middle class, and turn around our economy.”
It’s deja vu all over again.
Here’s the thing about the Porkulus, it ended up *creating* almost no jobs at all, it was virtually all spent on preserving existing state and local government jobs. Now, perhaps that was a good idea, I dunno, but it’s entirely false advertising to say that the Porkulus did much of anything for the private sector. Yeah sure, a few more teachers could still buy their Big Macs. But Ryan got it right last night: it meant another trillion dollars in debt, which is an ONGOING DRAG on the economy, now, today, and for who knows how many more years.
Ryan also gave a nod to the fact that Obambus *did* come into a difficult situation. I liked hearing Ryan say that. It’s true. What gripes me INCREASINGLY about the Obambus regime is that everything they say is a lie, and it’s a lie against arithmetic – like these new EPA requirements. Liars ad frauds are not what we need in office to address REAL PROBLEMS.
…Well, what I meant by that is that we were in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime crisis, so we had to just do stuff fast.”…
I don’t know. I just seem to expect more from a Harvard educated Constitutional scholar and Nobel Prize Laureat than “we had to do stuff fast”. In what part of the curriculum at Harvard do they teach about ‘stuff’?
I know. I’m just insufferable.
So, refresh my memory. Obama didn’t have time to explain pesky things like the Recovery Act, the bailout, the real scope of the 2000+ page Obamacare bill, or his executive orders on immigration and welfare work requirements.
But he DID have time to brag about “his” takedown of bin Laden, demonstrate his sports picks (good ol’ Barackets Obama), play golf, vacation in Martha’s Vineyard and Hawaii and …
Wait, what?!
– has been propagated for him by DEMedia. What does he have to add to it?