President Jawbone
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All the soaring rhetoric in the world will not defy economic physics
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President Barack Obama gave a speech on the economy Wednesday at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Given the tone and lack of substance of the speech, it appears the President will be dug in on his policies and uncompromising with the Republicans until it is too late and he realizes that his historical legacy, and not re-election, is what’s at stake.
He resorted to his favorite rhetorical weapon of blaming his predecessor, George W. Bush, for the recession Mr. Obama inherited: “Today, five years after the start of that Great Recession, we fought our way back,” Obama said.
There were no new policy proposals, just the President urging congress to comply with his wishes.
Associated Press
As a community organizer, demagoguery was an effective tool to rally people. As President, it does not work to rally the economy ______________________________________________
He droned on about how “technology made some jobs obsolete. Global competition sent others overseas. It became harder for unions to fight for the middle class. Washington doled out bigger tax cuts to the rich and smaller minimum wage increases for the working poor” and a laundry list of other perceived Liberal nightmares. For someone who aspired to be the transformational Ronald Reagan, this was the complete opposite of a typical optimistic speech by the Gipper: it was a bill of particulars on what was wrong with this country and how he would straighten it out.
Then he went on to say “Today, five years after the start of that Great Recession, America has fought its way back.”
What the President did not say is how the U.S. economy fought back primarily against his policies.
Everything from ObamaCare to environmental and financial services regulation has helped stunt growth across the U.S. economy. The XL Pipeline project alone would create 20,000 jobs but Mr. Obama chose to side with environmentalists over economic growth and stop it.
The consequence of Mr. Obama’s choice to create a utopia over economic growth has been business unwilling to hire. Thus, a relatively jobless recovery.
Yet this does not stop the former community organizer who had great success in using words to rally people to causes. What the President does not understand is that all the soaring rhetoric in the world will not get businesses to open their wallets and make capital investments and hire people, only more friendly tax laws and government regulations will.
To play on a phrase from James Carville, “it’s the policy, stupid.”
-I.M. Windee
