History destroys claims for Obama jobs plan

History destroys claims for Obama jobs plan

San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial
July 14, 2012

The most common excuse President Barack Obama offers for the nation’s continuing economic woes is that those blasted Republicans in Congress are obstructing him from passing new “stimulus” bills that they know would instantly revive job growth. On MSNBC and in the comments section of media websites, this argument is repeated, with GOP lawmakers called saboteurs, traitors, racists and worst.

This is garbage, and on several fronts.

When it comes to economic growth, Republicans are being consistent with the policies they have espoused for decades. They believe the private sector is what creates jobs and wealth, not government spending.

The president, however, used the $787 billion 2009 stimulus bill not to push private-sector growth but in large part to keep money flowing in the economy by backfilling the coffers of state and local governments so they could avoid laying off public employees. On June 9, when Obama infamously said “the private sector is doing fine,” the context of the rest of his remarks showed no evidence that he wasn’t saying exactly what he believes. The president went on to say the bigger problem was job losses in state and local governments – a point that builds on his comment about the private sector.

As for Republicans rejecting Obama’s calls to saddle future generations with ever more debt by borrowing and spending money now to invigorate the economy, it is true that the GOP’s record on deficit spending is nothing to celebrate. But as Obama observed, “Elections have consequences.” In 2010, a tidal wave drove Democrats from power in the House of Representatives, a wave fueled by public anger over Obamacare and heavy deficit spending.

So the claim that Republicans are sandbagging legislation solely to hurt Obama is based on some truly bizarre premises. That only recently have GOP lawmakers emphasized the primacy of the private sector over government in creating good jobs. That GOP lawmakers should turn their backs on the people who got them elected.

But the most bizarre premise of all is that everyone just knows what Obama wants to do would in fact revive the economy.

What is that based on? None of the confident predictions that accompanied the $787 billion stimulus bill have come true. Obama said U.S. unemployment would be under 6 percent. Instead, we continue to see the worst sustained unemployment since the Great Depression. The June rate was 8.2 percent and would be much higher if it factored in the 6 million adults who have stopped looking for work. A Gallup tracking poll finds that 17 percent of the adult workforce that is looking for full-time employment can only find part-time work. Add it all up, and well more than one-quarter of adults who want to work can’t find a full-time job.

So, once again, where does Democrats’ confidence that Obama knows how to create jobs come from? Why should fresh promises be taken seriously when 2009’s promises didn’t remotely come true?

The president has proved he knows how to preserve government jobs with borrowed money and how to borrow and spend money to goose the economy in the short term. That’s all.

It’s not obstructionism, sabotage, treason or racism to believe that more of the same is not what America needs.

We might know this, but the uniformed won't, those ones will vote for him.