On Friday during a swing state speech in Virginia, President Obama scolded entrepreneurs and everyone else who considers themselves a hard worker. His comment slowly turned the dialogue of the campaign away from King of Bain to King of Economic Pain, revealing that this president and his most ardent supporters — the ones who cheered him on as he thought he was cleverly checkmating the private sector — do not understand or support the free market. The fact that the president was channeling a fake Indian while denigrating hard work, smarts and success is mere icing on the cake.
Following that, the former Democratic speaker of the House told her fellow Democrats to save themselves and skip the DNC convention. Pelosi is merely endorsing a trend over which she has no control, though, as several vulnerable Democrats had already announced their plans to be somewhere other than Charlotte. They don’t want to be seen with a divisive failed president.
Speaking of Charlotte, did you hear the one about the Democrats pretending that the name of their finale venue there isn’t Bank of America Stadium? That was a good one.
Move ahead a day or so and the nation learned that Obama has literally been neglecting the US jobs problem for six months. In February 2011 President Obama formed his jobs council, composed of a range of business leaders, to great fanfare. He promised that it would meet regularly, come up with recommendations to improve the jobs picture, and he would act on those recommendations. But it turns out, he and his business council don’t agree on what’s best for business so he hasn’t even bothered meeting with them for half a year. When reporters asked the president’s spokesman about this, the answer that came back was a howler: He’s too busy, got too much on his plate.
Well, here’s what the president has allowed to be crowded off his plate. Jobless claims jumped this week by 34,000. US home sales dropped 5.4% in June. Corn prices are shooting up thanks to the drought, which will end up driving consumer food prices a notch. The price of gas may have dipped a tick but prices of other consumer goods are going up.
In the teeth of this, polls are showing a tightening national race as skepticism of Obama and his priorities grows. And a solid majority of 62% flatly reject Obama’s call for a more “fair”economy via higher taxes on the wealthy according to a new Rasmussen poll. That majority rates economic growth as more important than some politician’s notion of what’s fair or unfair. A CBS/NYT poll also found bad news for the president: 55% disapprove os his handling of the economy and a growing number believe that the economy is getting worse. A solid majority of 60% say the president’s Bain attacks will make no difference in how they vote. A Fox poll found more bad news for Obama just as he has gone public with his love for government: A 55% majority sees government as the problem, not the solution, to economic growth.
There is no good news in this for Obama, not in the facts of the economy or the campaign storylines or in the polls. His beliefs have always been out of step with the majority of Americans, and his “You didn’t built that” speech has finally exposed that fact just as the economy is weakening again. He can try attacking Romney again, but having already called him a felon, what’s left to top that?
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