The title of my essay suggests that the President himself has informed Mitt Romney that he is on to his little deception but I am in fact writing vicariously for the President in the hopes that he takes this baton and effectively carries it to not only his next debate with his GOP opponent but for the remainder of the campaign as he travels through swing states talking to voters.
Voters need to make sure that Romney isn’t employing some legerdemain when he debates the president
Following the first presidential debates in Denver, GOP candidate Mitt Romney put a spotlight on himself that continues to reveal how he is misleading the American voter, not only in his claims about his own abilities but in how he is misrepresenting President Obama’s job creating policies.
Mitt Romney has made the economy the centerpiece of his campaign and has tried to make a case that not only has the President’s policies not worked but that they will make things worse if he remains in office. Romney has also assured us that if he is elected he will use his business skills to bring jobs back and reduce the deficit without raising taxes. In order for voters to buy into this they will have allow themselves to be mesmerized by the trickery Romney and his VP choice, Paul Ryan, will be performing for the remainder of this election year.
Ignore that man behind the curtain
If the President’s policies were not working and were in fact making things worse, then we wouldn’t be seeing the opposite of what we were experiencing during George Bush’s last year.
[O]ur economy and financial markets went into a tailspin in the second half of 2008 due to the consequences of conservative economic policies aggressively implemented by the Bush administration.
Compare this to the economic situation today:
The U.S. economy has added jobs for 31 consecutive months
The economy has been growing since June 2009
Manufacturing has been on the upswing
Corporate profits have risen sharply
The stock market has added healthy gains
Foreclosures are finally falling
Household wealth is continuing to expand
Instead of a second Great Depression, the actions of President Barack Obama’s administration resulted in our economy exiting what became known as the Great Recession of 2007–2009 within the first six months of his term. - SOURCE
Watch, as I create jobs out of thin air!
“See, nothing up my sleeves”
Mitt Romney claims, “If I’m president, I will help create 12 million new jobs in this country with rising incomes.” Really? Romney says he can achieve what only Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton have and will do it in 4 years rather than the course of two terms Clinton and Reagan needed to achieve this.
That’s pretty bold stuff. Romney has always viewed himself as something of a hero riding in to save the day. His successes at Bain Capital, passing Universal Health Care in Massachusetts (Romney-care) and the 2002 Winter Olympics may make this a justifiable view of himself. But his achievements with these were perhaps more a factor of his fiduciary skills. The claim that he will help create 12 million jobs is more a sleight of hand move that involves something he hasn’t had a hand in and which has essentially already been set in motion without any Romney heroics.
12 million new jobs will occur with or without Romney, according to several reports by Moody Analytics, the economic firm IHS Global Insight as well as the CBO’s own analysis. Strange that this is forecasted and Mr. Romney has yet to step foot in the Oval office. Romney’s imaginary part in this only comes about if he wins in November and finds himself in place when this all materializes. Voila! His promise of creating 12 million jobs comes true. But it comes true not for actions he took but for merely showing up.
These analyses likely do not take into account an Obama loss that allows the GOP to repeal Obamacare along with their failure to address the debt ceiling issue that could well push the economy over the “fiscal cliff”. Then that 12 million figure would likely drop dramatically according to the CBO’s analysis. Hundreds of thousands of jobs could be lost in the first two years alone if Romney implements most of his draconian budget cuts.
What this job creation projection does is to debunk the claims made by Romney and the GOP that Obama’s actions have not improved the economic quagmire he inherited. Though factors are in play here that no single person can take credit for, it becomes clear that if unemployment is reduced to the projected 6-7% figure by the fourth quarter of 2016, it will have done so by actions Obama has taken that have been anything but hurtful.
“ … GDP grew by 1.7 percent in 2011, producing nearly 1.6 million jobs. This is net of nearly 300,000 jobs lost in the public sector, thereby reflecting a private sector that is experiencing sustained, if not vigorous, growth.
A stronger above-trend economic recovery is not expected until 2014, after which several years of healthy growth are forecast. Thus, in the mid- to long-term, real estate markets should experience full recovery. This recovery should also lead to new supply ..
While a modest improvement from 2011, the coming year is forecast to experience continued gradual recovery, with anticipated job creation of about 140,000 per month. Longer-term, growth should accelerate. The previous employment peak should be achieved in 2014, and the unemployment rate should fall below 7 percent in 2016.” SOURCE (emphasis mine)
Obama and the Democrats have less than four weeks to convince voters who were impressed with Governor Romney’s performance following the first debate that there exuberance is based largely on distortions and lies. Unless they can convince enough people that the change they think they will get by returning the power back to the GOP is simply more of the same policies that created the great recession in the first place, this country will devolve into an economic morass that will take at least a decade to recover from. The writing is already on the wall as we watch conservative austerity programs dragging Europe down as it prevents a faster resurgence of our own economy.
And now for a side show
Watch the Daily Beast’s video of Hankeygate showing Romney employing a little prestidigitation that could violate the debate rules forbidding the use of any props, notes, charts, diagrams or other writings
Hankeygate
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Sherry
More and more I hear the lament that this election will be decided by people who don’t have a clue what the truth is. Romney has internalized this and will simply say whatever sounds good (as one woman said she thought he sounded good). He understands that the ultimate last voters are low information, dont give a damn and the debates are the first and only occasion that they spend watching at all. That is why Romney told lies and won–because he “sounded” good.
lbwoodgate
And this is why we hope Biden tonight and Obama on the final two debates comes back strong and makes a few hits that viewers/voters can take away with them. If nothing else this can reassert the lead Obama had and ensures a better possibility of his victory.
Sedate Me
As the old saying goes, selling a candidate is like selling soap or any other product.
It’s all about hawking that 2nd, 3rd or, in this case, 27th rate product to the morons out there who have been successfully trained by our consumerist culture to mindlessly swallow any and all kinds of bullshit. That basic interaction (selling shit to the stupid) is the fundamental equation that is dragging down America on multiple fronts. Stupidity generally results in political/economic rewards for those at the top.
Ending the mass stupidity depends upon the masses of the stupid miraculously deciding to make the right decisions for a period of time that exceeds their attention span at least a hundred thousandfold.
lobotero
You know Larry the one point that the GOP or the Dems, for that matter, all have ideas, some good some not so good and with all their schemes and plans they seem to over look one thing……without revenue NONE of those plans are doable.
The debates are a fact checkers orgasm……personally, I do not see a return of the Middle Class with either candidate if they keep playing these damn silly games…..
Don in Massachusetts
I remember when Romney was debating Ted Kennedy, for the Mass Senate seat, which was back in the 90s, and in the third and final debate, with not much time left in the debate, Kennedy slammed Romney down to size when he said, “(Romney) he’s the part time Liberal, I am the full time Liberal.” Romney didn’t know what to say after that. This what Obama has to do. Put him in his place.
lobotero
Larry, sorry to be off topic…would you go to my latest Syria post and read the comments and let me know what you think…I would appreciate it….
Jeff Fordham
Lb
I laughed my ass off when he stated he would create 500,000 jobs per month. The average monthly job growth rate post world war 2 has been around 120,00 per month………….the only time you have seen jumps of 300,000 to 500,00 for one month has been after the hiring of census workers or after the settling of huge strikes.Yet mittens is going to wave his magic wand and produce 5000,000 as a monthly average?
Just trying to discuss the absurdity with a Republican these days……its exhausting. I feel like packing it all in sailing off to New Zealand.
lbwoodgate
The Republicans are becoming good at exploiting the emotions and basic lack of understanding too many Americans have about what can and can’t be done. In this particular case most people want to believe Romney’s outrageous claims because they honestly feel the President can single-handedly turn this economy around after falling so deep. They haven’t connected with how Europe’s austerity problems, the same measures that Romney wants to enact, have kept our economy from bouncing back faster and the part the GOP House has played in dragging their feet by refusing to consider anymore stimulus spending or how GOP-controlled states are cutting public sector jobs without raising any taxes to address their budget shortfalls.