Politics & Current Events
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Obama grades himself "incomplete" on economy
First, he's been in office for almost four years.
Second, I am hoping that most voters see "incomplete" the way I do----what students get for 2 weeks until it's turned into an F.
"I want the left to know they screwed with the wrong guy."
-This signature may or may not have been selectively edited.
Re: Obama grades himself "incomplete" on economy
Wouldn't it be arrogant to give himself a passing grade when he still has goals to accomplish in terms of the economy?
People like the word arrogant around here, so I thought I'd join the party. Of course it's incomplete, the US is in recovery from a near-depression.
Exactly. You can't fix the mess he was left overnight. We are making very slow progress, but we are making progress. Returning to the policies that got us into this mess in the first place will NOT be a better or faster fix.
No it isn't in recovery. The depression is about to happen. What we saw in 2008-2009 was the preamble to the real depression that is coming in probably the next couple of years. We have a bubble economy. It was caused by both political parties.
Gas prices are almost double the price.
The deficit is $6 Trillion dollars more.
Unemployment is over 8%.
Obama himself said he would have it solved during his first term. He needs to step aside. I wanted him to succeed just as much as anyone. This economy is terrible.
Obama's admission of incompleteness is already 10000x times better than the mayor of my city, who gave the city a B+ for the city's response to a massive snowstorm a few years ago. A snowstorm that literally shut down blocks for weeks because the city government was more concerned about the environmental impact of using salt on the roads than the residents (who pay the taxes) being able to get out of their homes.
Of course, a path was plowed from the mayors neighborhood to downtown.
That's why he gave them a B+
False.
"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.
I promise you, we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem."
That is word for word from the transcript of his victory speech given in Chicago after his election.
This is why I say we ARE making progress in the economy under Obama:
Let?s look a bit closer at the real situation.
Unemployment bottomed out at 10% in the summer of 2009 but it has trended downward ever since reaching 8.2% in 2012, less than Obama?s first year in office. Yes, it did increase slightly, back to 8.3%. The private sector has grown, adding jobs every month for more than two years. Much of that growth has been blunted by losses in the public sector as a result of government cuts. It?s quite possible the unemployment picture would be better if stimulative efforts had continued as they did in past downturns.
Roughly 8.4 million jobs were lost during the recession, most between September 2008 and April 2009. (This despite the supposed 23 million unemployed individuals Mitt Romney has attempted to place on his opponent?s shoulders.) By inauguration day 2009, the economy was hemorrhaging 600,000 plus jobs each month. By the end of it all, the numbers were essentially split down the middle for Bush and Obama. Both presidents had to accept that during the worst part of the recession ~4.2 million jobs were lost under each of their administrations. Since then, we?ve seen 4 million jobs added to the economy over the last 3 years. Given the depths of the recession, gaining back almost half of those lost in a relatively short amount of time hardly speaks to the failed policy the Republican Party seeks to illustrate. Those claims become more erroneous when one considers those 4 million created jobs represent virtually all those lost under President Obama.
Debt has risen under this presidency but while many would like to leave that statement closed right there, ?We have the highest debt ever under Obama?, the factors behind that high debt are more consequential than just having that ?big government spender? in the White House. First, the current debt we have now is an accumulation of numerous administrations reaching back to Ronald Reagan. Each president?s administration contributed to the current national debt we have, from Reagan to George H.W. Bush to Clinton to George W. Bush to Barrack Obama. Of the total current debt, which sits at $15.9 trillion, almost half (42.7%) was accrued under George W Bush. Debt under President Obama comes in a distant 2nd place at 16.8%. Reagan is third (13.2%) with Clinton, the first President Bush and all administrations prior to Reagan accounting for the remaining 27.3%.
The primary contributors to the debt under the Obama administration include the three largest contributors to Bush?s debt load, the Bush tax cuts, the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars and the Medicare prescription drug plan, most of which remained as bills-to-be-paid through the last 4 years. However savings have been achieved through ending of the Iraq War and Medicare provisions included in the Affordable Care Act. Also, as noted previously, 8.4 million jobs were lost during the Great Recession. That in of itself represented a significant reduction in government revenue for state and local governments up through to the federal levels. And last but not least, the Stimulus Bill?s contribution was significant, yet many economists deem the benefits will outweigh the costs in the coming years, as it was credited with placing the US on the path to recovery.
National Republicans point to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as an indicator of the president?s failings. They point to the last two fiscal quarters of 2012 as proof. However, when we look back at GDP?s overall performance during Obama?s first term, the current status of GDP is hardly a critique of this president?s broader fiscal policy. From its depths in the first quarter of 2009, a -8.9% growth rate, GDP has increased under Obama breaking out of the negative zone by late 2009 never to drop out of positive growth rates again. It has experienced ups and downs over that time. A prime example is how it dropped to 0.4% in March of 2011 yet by the end of that year and on into Q1 2012 it rose back to 3%, even amidst double-dip recession predictions which ran rampant across the media landscape 2 months before.
Source: http://open.salon.com/blog/mpbulletin/2012/09/03/economy_worse_under_obama*cough cough* Bulls***! *cough cough*
Um, gas was over $4 a gallon in early 2008. I would know, I bought a damned SUV on Black Friday 2007, just before the price spike. It went down in late 2008, about a month before the election. Hmm, I wonder why.
The voters will grade him in November. It will be pass/fail grading system. The grade he gives himself is invalid, the votes we cast are the only thing that count.
He failed by focusing on health care rather than the economy and job creation at the beginning of his term. He also failed to develop a working relationship with Congress and especially the Republicans. His "I won", "election shave consequences", We are not interested in your (R) ideas" set the stage of the R's stand to go against him.
Obama had 2years of total control - and could have done so much more than he did.
The night of Obama's Inauguration, Republican Reps Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan, Pete Sessions, Jeb Hensarling, Pete Hoekstra and Dan Lungren, along with Republican Sens Jim Demint, John Kyl, Tom Coburn, John Ensign, and Bob Corker and non lawmakers Newt Gingrich and Frank Luntz all gathered for a meeting in which it was decided that no matter what Obama put forward, even of it was for the good of this country, they could not let it succeed. Newt Gingrich was quoted saying, "You will remember this day as the day the seeds of 2012 were sown."
So, don't you dare try to suggest that he couldn't work with the Republicans at his own fault. Before his first day in office, they had already decided they would never work with him.
As for the two years he had control, the Republican misuse of the filibuster proved to be an enormous blockade to getting anything passed even with the majority.
The Republicans have stood in the way of accomplishing anything. Not just the bad ideas, but the good ones too, just to ensure Obama couldn't get any credit for succeeding. That's supposed to be the party of patriots? It sounds very anti-American to me.
You mean Obama had two years of complete control and didn't turn the country into a socialist state? Huh...