Obama Jabs Republicans for “Just-Say-No” Attitude on Economic Policies He Says are Working

I agree with Obama that the Repubs have become the party of no, unless things benefit their district in which case they take full credit, even with their no vote on record!
Folks, just look at the Repub attitude against strong regulation by the government. Without it we will have another banking industry disaster, without strong regulation of the oil industry, coal, you name it, we will have preventable disasters there, too. The Repubs try to fool us again and again that ‘freedom’ means no regulation when in reality without strong rules, the greed takes over any industry and we all get hurt, directly or indirectly.
I’m so glad that this administration and congress has laid out a course for our economy to improve, slowly but surely.

That’s right, our post-partisan president everyone! What a uniter.
This simpletom reduces everything to fluffy little sound bytes that simply aren’t true. If someone believes they have a better plan than opposing yours is not being the party of no. Of course, the One couldn’t try and score cheap political points with that logic.
Good thing though is that I don’t believe the people will be fooled again come November.

Republicans went all in on the stimulus failing. It hasn’t, so of course they’re now spinning desperately. Notice they’re not talking about the DOW – up 34% since Obama took office – as a sign of how business hates ‘socialist’ Obama anymore either. They also haven’t explained why the sky didn’t fall as predicted upon health insurance reform passing either. And not so much “Drill Baby Drill” coming from their corner.
If you have much of a memory, you wouldn’t believe a Republican if he told you the sky was blue.

This simpletom reduces everything to fluffy little sound bytes that simply aren’t true.
J.R. | May 18, 2010 4:20:11 PM
Citation please.
And calling the Republicans the party of no is backed up by their unprecedented use of the filibuster – they are on pace to TRIPLE the most filibusters launched by any Democratic Senate minority, ever, in over 200 years. And the filibuster is not the only procedural slowdown they’ve abused.

So now who is Obama going to blame,this guy always has to blame someone else but himself,the so called gOD ALMIGHTY SO HE THINKS .

“This simpletom reduces everything to fluffy little sound bytes that simply aren’t true.
J.R. | May 18, 2010 4:20:11 PM
Citation please. ”
what are you talking about, my citation is from observed behavior. It’s also called an opinion and I don’t need a citation to have one. sheesh. turn the page already.

let him jab all he wants……there will be a knockout in November, and he will be the one lying down.

We’re in the longest recession since the Great Depression. First, the administration predicts we’ll be better last fall. Then last winter. Then spring. All of their predictions have been wrong.
Now that the economy finally starts to turn around and create jobs, AS EVERY ECONOMY DOES on the upswing of a business cycle, they want to take credit for it.
If I do a rain dance and predict that it’s going to rain tomorrow and it doesn’t, and I keep doing the same rain dance every day and saying that the next day will rain, then a week from now when it finally rains I say “See, I told you it would rain” are you really going to give me credit for my rain dance making it rain?
That’s what this administration is doing.

You can’t say that it has worked. Heck, one of the One’s metrics was unemployment and we have seen how that hasn’t come true.
J.R. | May 18, 2010 4:53:28 PM
Citation. Please. Some bit of reality, like how we just had our first four months of job growth in a row, the most in four years. What sort of cherry-picking contortions are you getting into to claim that four consecutive months of job growth is somehow bad? Sure, we need more jobs to dig out of the Republican Recession, but the trend is undeniably good.

hree consecutive months of increased employment, industrial production, real income and real business sales – the usual indicators.
Posted by: jhw539 |
Unemployment is a usual indicator. Forget that one? Bank foreclosures? National debt?
And of course you don’t provide any evidence to support your claim that these things are better because of the stimulus but I will stipulate that a government that runs a deficit equal to 10% of GDP will stimulate the economy even without the Porkulus bill you are so proud of.
Anyway, at least we finally have you on record for *some* metrics we can use going forward.

However, unemployment rate has increased to 9.9%; deficit spending has increased 4x in the past year; can’t sustain spending at present level without a) printing more money which equals higher inflation or b) Interest rates begin to soar because of competition for precious limited dollars with the government spending; Uk banking industry now comparing U.S. to Greece, Yes GDP was up…good; however there is also deceleration in real GDP which indicates a stalling economy/recovery for the future perhaps the stimulus money tree is running dry….bad….consumer spending was up, for those that still have a job, good; however, food prices were also up..bad if your unemployed…real personal income was NOT up as stated below but remains unchanged in first quarter…ANYONE CAN CHERRY PICK STATS; HOWEVER, THERE IS ONLY ONE QUESTION THE VOTER NEEDS TO ASK THEMSELVES, ARE YOU BETTER OFF UNDER THE DEMS THAN THE REPUBS AND DO YOU FEEL YOUR FAMILY IS SAFER??? REALLY NOT ROCKET SCIENCE..

jhw539:
In April 2009, Romer predicted positive job growth. That didn’t happen until just a month or two ago.
Right when the ARRA was passed, Joe Biden said the impact would be felt immediately, yet the unemployment rate continued to increase for another year.
How about you take 5 seconds and use a search engine instead of just repeating your idiotic refrain of “Citation”. Look up the facts, Jack.

Right when the ARRA was passed, Joe Biden said the impact would be felt immediately, yet the unemployment rate continued to increase for another year.
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The benefits WERE felt immediately. Part of ARRA provided hard working americans who had lost their jobs with extended unemployment benefits and COBRA assistance.
Part gave immediate tax relief – $288 billion in tax relief in total.
For you to expect unemployment to turn around in a week, or a month is absurd.
Under Reagan, unemployment was above 9% for 19 months, and above 10% for 10 months.
Some realism might better inform your opinions.

Posted by: Parallex View | May 18, 2010 6:41:38 PM
Sorry Parallex you can not judge the current President in a vacuum. Rightly his handling of this economic crisis CAN be compared to previous administrations and presidents.
As pointed out – with Reagan, a Republican – the country endured 19 months of unemployment being higher that 9% and TEN months with unemployment higher than 10%.
This President has done very well.

Posted by: DaveMN | May 18, 2010 6:50:01 PM
Try to follow the discussion and not put words in other people’s mouths.
You appear to be having some problem responding to the points I made, so you veer off into making things up I might or might not think.
Cool.

I’m a PROUD member of the restructured party of “NO NEW SPENDING”!! Obama doesn’t realize how inherently weak all his whining makes him sound. He has absolutely no interest in serving any American that does not happen to agree with his untested, purely academic, ideologue fantasies. He has ignored all hard working Americans who are more aligned with the Tea Party folk. We are the greatest country in the world, not a test tube for bad policies. Any economic recovery will only come because banks have tightened up their belts and raised interest rates to become fiscally sound. The “Stimulus” accomplished nothing but buying votes from people already looking for handouts. The blame Bush – 8 last years argument is so tired and lame that even his supporters are tired of it. As an attorney, he sued banks to make them enter into untenable loan agreements. He is just as guilty for creating this economic crisis as Bush. What a crybaby. Most divisive and arrogant administration in history.

“this company V&R Star) had the resources to expand and create jobs. Obama said the company’s $650 million investment was the biggest in the manufacturing industry in this region since the 1960s.”
Why do we give stimulus money to a highly profitable French owned company that is the leading producer in the world of seamless pipe for the oil and natural gas industry?

More from the “Just Say No” crowd . . .
Republicans are blocking reforms and supporting Wall Street. Surprised? I’m not.
Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top-ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, rose to object to a vote on one of the most talked-about amendments, cosponsored by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). Levin-Merkley would ban commercial banks from trading for their own benefit with taxpayer-backed money.
Shelby also objected to an amendment from Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) that would rein in predatory practices of payday lenders and one from Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) that would have banned naked credit default swaps, which were at the heart of the financial crisis.

And I’m unaware of Reagan claiming that his policies would keep unemployment below 7%, which Obama did.
Posted by: DaveMN | May 18, 2010 7:14:17 PM
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This is a straight lie and discredits your ‘facts’.
Start there.

Right when the ARRA was passed, Joe Biden said the impact would be felt immediately, yet the unemployment rate continued to increase for another year.
_____________________________________
The benefits WERE felt immediately. Part of ARRA provided hard working americans who had lost their jobs with extended unemployment benefits and COBRA assistance.
Part gave immediate tax relief – $288 billion in tax relief in total.
For you to expect unemployment to turn around in a week, or a month is absurd.
Under Reagan, unemployment was above 9% for 19 months, and above 10% for 10 months.
Some realism might better inform your opinions.
Posted by: tierra | May 18, 2010 6:29:30 PM
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And then continue . ..

I’m done doing your research for you.
Posted by: DaveMN | May 18, 2010 7:18:49 PM
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Nobody wants you doing their research for them, its’ inaccurate and unsubstantiated.

tierra — how about you address the fact that all the jobs “created or saved” by the stimulus cost many times more than regular jobs? Is that successful government policy for you? Or is it just proof that we need yet even MORE government.
Yeah, that’s the ticket. If we had even MORE government, they could get it right and be even MORE efficient. I’m sold!

I apologize for my error, tierra. Obama said unemployment would not go about 8%, not 7%.
Posted by: DaveMN | May 18, 2010 7:21:18 PM
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You were wrong the first time, and you’re still wrong.
Obama did NOT say that. If he did, show us the quote, the source and the date.
Here’s a hint – you won’t be able to find it – it didn’t happen.

tierra — how about you address the fact that all the jobs “created or saved” by the stimulus cost many times more than regular jobs?
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You don’t even know how much of the stimulus money has been spent – never mind how much a job cost.
You can go look it up, but you don’t know so quit pretending you do.

Posted by: DaveMN | May 18, 2010 7:25:54 PM
Please provide the Obama quote, source and date.
I said nothing about Reagan being ‘horrible’ or ‘great’ or any of that.
I simply pointed out that under his administration, unemployment was above 9% for 19 straight months, and above 10% for TEN months.
Both were dealing with VERY difficult economices however Obama is doing far better than Reagan.
You’ll also be interested to know the national debt TRIPLED under Reagan.

tierra — how about you address the fact that all the jobs “created or saved” by the stimulus cost many times more than regular jobs? Is that successful government policy for you?
DaveMN | May 18, 2010 7:23:39 PM
What does that even mean? Yeah, all those regular jobs created in 2008 sure were cheap, all NEGATIVE 2.6 MILLION OF THEM. And when you talk about the stimulus “cost”, about a third of it was tax breaks. Suddenly not taking money from citizens during a tough time is “spending”. Again Republicans tie themselves in knots to say no.

“Reagan was great – plus he made even liberals feel good about being Americans”
Are you out of your mind? Iran-Contra was one of the most shameful episodes for our country in my lifetime.

“Why do liberals love communists?”
We don’t…we’re just not afraid of them, especially in a small Central American nation.

I hate to get carried away, but this idea that Iran-Contra can be justified is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard. What about the Chinese? They’re communists too. Do you think it’s a good idea that we fund terrorist activities against them? It sounds to me like there are some who believe the best thing we can do to help China shake off the shackles of communism is to fund thugs who indiscriminately massacre their citizens. I’m expecting to have it explained to me how Nicaragua and El Salvador are a totally different thing.

Posted by: obieone40 | May 18, 2010 10:58:07 PM
Your figures seem a little – how should one put this – slanted. Are they?

Policies working? How about Detroit — the Democrat Katrina, the end result of spread the wealth around, the poster picture of liberal Democrat government.
A good thing we have the Republicans, however flawed, to slow the train down or we will all be living in our version of Detroit before we can get rid of the Obama Regime in 2012…

“the poster picture of liberal Democrat government”
All the major cities are typically controlled by Democrats. Why is Detroit any more of a benchmark than any of the others?

Many others are not far behind…
Posted by: Quo Warranto? | May 19, 2010 1:25:53 AM
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Quo you seem oblivious to the fact there was an almost complete free-fall collapse of the economy under the Bush administration.
Crashing stock market, 700,000 losing their jobs in a month, major banks and financial institutions collapsing, doulbed national debt, ballooning deficit, automotive companies collapsing, foreclosures and bankruptcies through the roof . .
The end result of 12 years of Republicans having the majority in both chambers of Congress and the presidency for 8 years.
Are you also oblivious to the effects of that collapse on local, state and federal budgets and deficits?
Another Republican triumph.

“If the just-say-no crowd had won out, if we had done things the way they wanted to go, we’d be in a deeper world of hurt than we are right now,” the president said.
Not true.
The Repubs wanted more money spent to stimulate the private sector as well as some tax incentives. It quite possible that if the Repub Stimulus was enacted we could be better off than we are today with less debt built up.
Relax Lib-Nutz, I’m not saying that is a foregone conclusion but it is feasible.
Also it isn’t hard to argue that too much money from the Stimulus went to save government service jobs.
I wish that NoBo would stop being so divisive especially when he knows he’s spouting propaganda spin.

If you can empirically demonstrate that all our major cities are headed inexorably toward the fate of Detroit under Democratic leadership you will have the makings of a good thesis there. Otherwise I’m certain it’s just another case of cherry-picking a worst case example to tout as evidence of another hack right-wing political-ideological theory.

“If we need any further illustration of the potential threats to our own economy from uncontrolled borrowing, we have only to look to the struggle to maintain the common European currency, to rebalance the European economy, and to sustain political cohesion of Europe.
There are serious questions, most immediately about the sustainability of our commitment to growing entitlement programs.”
- Paul Volcker, who heads an outside panel of experts advising Obama on the economy.