I need a neck brace.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Confronting misgivings, even in his own party, President Obama mounted a stout defense of his blueprint to overhaul the economy Thursday, declaring the national crisis is "not as bad as we think" and his plans will speed recovery.
Challenged to provide encouragement as the nation's "confidence builder in chief," Obama said Americans shouldn't be whipsawed by bursts of either bad or good news and he was "highly optimistic" about the long term.
The president's proposals for major health care, energy and education changes in the midst of economic hard times faced skepticism from both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, as senators questioned his budget outlook and the deficits it envisions in the middle of the next decade.
But Obama, speaking to top executives of the Business Roundtable, expressed an optimistic vision and called for patience.
Richard Parsons, chairman of beleaguered Citigroup Inc., asked if Obama could offer some help in a national battle "between confidence and fear."
"A smidgen of good news and suddenly everything is doing great. A little bit of bad news and ooohh , we're down on the dumps," Obama said. "And I am obviously an object of this constantly varying assessment. I am the object in chief of this varying assessment."
"I don't think things are ever as good as they say, or ever as bad as they say," Obama added. "Things two years ago were not as good as we thought because there were a lot of underlying weaknesses in the economy. They're not as bad as we think they are now."
This is ridiculous.
It was just a month ago that the nation's "confidence builder in chief" was the nation's "scare the crap out of everyone in chief."
Things aren't as bad as we think? Really?
Remember this?
February 5, 2009, Obama wrote:
By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression. Millions of jobs that Americans relied on just a year ago are gone; millions more of the nest eggs families worked so hard to build have vanished. People everywhere are worried about what tomorrow will bring.
What Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives -- action that's swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis.
Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.
Obama warned that we were dangerously deep in recession, teetering on the edge of a Depression.
He painted the economic catastrophe as so severe that we might never recover.
Obama's done a sudden, jerking about-face.
Hey, things aren't as bad as we think they are now!
Happy days are here again. Enjoy it until Obama says the sky is falling.
7 comments:
This statement by Obama was calculated and makes perfect sense. Remember, he's in the propaganda business.
People are starting to pay attention to what he was up to and they were beginning to realize that we have a big and huge economic crisis that is getting worse every day. And, they were none too happy about what he was doing and proposing while watching their jobs and retirement savings vanish forever. His lies had caught up with him
He took the opportunity after a three day stock market mini-rally to tell everybody that all of this economic stuff isn't so bad and that his plan is working. Therefore trusting that folks would breathe a sigh of relief and go about their business ignoring what he is up to, Obama can continue implementing the socialization of the United States of America. He is hoping that a large portion of citizenry is stupid and trusting that the mainstream media will deliver his message just exactly as he requires.
This is all propaganda. One cannot trust nor believe anything that comes out of the Obama administration that is packaged for public consumption. One must watch what they are up to.
Yep, this is what it has come to in the United States of America, dealing with lies, misinformation and propaganda right out of the President's mouth. Some of us are not fooled.
http://www.johnhanson.net/ John Hanson (1715-1783) was the first president (1780-1783) of the United States under the Confederation before the Constitution. He was an Oldenburg Moor, a black nobleman, and he, like, Elijah-Baptist-Mehdi, went to heaven in a chariot of fire and never died. He has returned as Obama!
50 days to undue all the damage done in the past eight years. "No miracle today? He must be a failure, he is ruining us."
GOP whining at it's worst. My retirement account has stayed about even since January 20, 2009. The 37% drop occurred last year.
The first three comments here get me laughing almost as hard as Brian Schimming (1310 WIBA in Madison) on public radio this morning bemoaning the loss of the great ephemeral non-existent, supposed build-up of wealth under Bush. No one can tell yet whether the worthless derivatives allowed under Bush's nobody is watching the store, screw the investment regulations, give the thieves the combination to the vault, failure to execute his oath of office, are $7 trillion or $700 trillion. No assets covering huge liabilities.
This whole blog is great at criticism but hasn't offered one single idea about what should be done to "fix the economy." Great On Promises. A bit short of substance.
Anony 8:10 put the proper and justified description of the past administration that GOP faithful should have realized at least 6 years ago.
"Yep, this is what it has come to in the United States of America, dealing with lies, misinformation and propaganda right out of the President's mouth. Some of us are not fooled."
This whole blog is great at criticism but hasn't offered one single idea about what should be done to "fix the economy." Great On Promises. A bit short of substance.
That's total BS.
Why would you say something so lame as "this whole blog"?
Have you read "this whole blog"?
Obviously not.
To "fix the economy," I've suggested that Obama's administration should NOT:
1. Raise taxes
2. Go on a massive spending spree
3. Turn to socialism
4. Wage war against capitalists
Most important--
I've suggested that the best thing Obama could do to help fix the economy is back off and shut up.
Interesting that you've had no losses in 2009.
The DOW is down around 20% since Obama's inauguration.
But President Obama did not:
1. Raise my taxes
2. Spend anything near Bush's doubling of the national debt.
3. Begin the Reagan socialist policies, or the Bush administration privatize profits, SOCIALIZE the losses, (bail out of the banks).
4. yet prosecute the criminals, you want to call them capitalists, both begin with the letter, "c." Yes, I hope he gets around to it soon.
Have a little read from the "other side," by Robert Scheer at the, "Nation."
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090323/scheer?rel=hp_currently
"So what exactly would Obama's critics do differently? Nothing on the bailout side. Instead, they have settled for carping criticism of the stimulus package, playing games by nitpicking lesser-cost programs while ignoring the big items that most governors, be they Republican or Democrat, eagerly want. The great fear of the GOP seems to be that some of the stimulus program might actually prove helpful to struggling Americans, but the Republicans can't just come out of the closet and say so."
Come on out of the closet. Progressives are very forgiving of ignorance.
The DOW? Ever hear of real estate?
You said: "This whole blog is great at criticism but hasn't offered one single idea about what should be done to "fix the economy."
That is patently false.
As far as the points you enumerated, you clearly are operating from a different mindset than I am.
I believe in capitalism, freedom and competition when it comes to the economy, not in excessive regulation and socialism.
You have no money at all in the stock market?
If you do have money in the market, you're likely to have sustained losses in 2009.
Real estate? Have you not lost because I'm paying your mortgage?
One last thing--
When Obama raises the taxes of those he has defined as "rich," it's bad for the economy. When success is punished, the less successful wind up paying the price.
Obama in one fell swoop spent more than Bush ever did in Iraq.
Obviously the propaganda is working.
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