Not Going For It

Obama Continues To Hype His Dismal Record In A New Campaign Ad That’s Heavy On Blaming Others For His Failures

“IT’S STILL TOO HARD FOR TOO MANY” AND BY THE PRESIDENT’S OWN STANDARD THAT’S UNACCEPTABLE

Obama Ad: “We’re Not There Yet, It’s Still Too Hard For Too Many.” (“Go,” Obama For America, 5/7/12)

Facts: In 2008, Obama Said “The Real Question Is, ‘Will This Country Be Better Off Four Years From Now?'” OBAMA: “It is time, Canton, to try something new. The question in this election is not ‘Are you better off than you were four years ago?’ We all know the answer to that. The real question is, ‘Will this country be better off four years from now?'” (Senator Barack Obama, Remarks At Campaign Event, Canton, OH, 10/27/08)

• In 2009, Obama Said “If I Don’t Have This Done In Three Years, Then There’s Going To Be A One-Term Proposition.” OBAMA: “That’s exactly right. And – and, you know, a year from now I think people – are going to see that – we’re starting to make some progress. But there’s still going to be some pain out there. If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.” (NBC’s “The Today Show,” 2/2/09)

Americans Are Not Better Off

The Job Market Is Losing Momentum, The Housing Market Remains Fragile, And The Factory Sector Is Struggling. “New data Thursday provided fresh evidence that the job market is losing the momentum it built earlier this year, which could pressure fragile housing markets that have been showing signs of life. Separate reports this week suggested that the factory sector, a source of strength in the recovery, now is being hurt by weak growth overseas.” (Ben Casselman and Nick Timiraos, “Economic Reports Fan Fears,” The Wall Street Journal , 4/19/12)

97.3 Million Americans Now Qualify As Low-Income And Another 49.1 Million Are In Poverty; 48 Percent Of The Population. “About 97.3 million Americans fall into a low-income category, commonly defined as those earning between 100 and 199 percent of the poverty level, based on a new supplemental measure by the Census Bureau that is designed to provide a fuller picture of poverty. Together with the 49.1 million who fall below the poverty line and are counted as poor, they number 146.4 million, or 48 percent of the U.S. population. That’s up by 4 million from 2009, the earliest numbers for the newly developed poverty measure.” (Hope Yen, “Census Shows 1 In 2 People Are Poor Or Low-Income,” The Associated Press, 12/15/11)

• The Middle Class Is Shrinking And Millions Of Families Are Hurting. “The latest census data depict a middle class that’s shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government’s safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families.” (Hope Yen, “Census Shows 1 In 2 People Are Poor Or Low-Income,” The Associated Press, 12/15/11)

45 Million People Received Food Stamps In 2011, A 70 Percent Increase From 2007, And Will Continue Growing Until 2014. “The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday that 45 million people in 2011 received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, a 70% increase from 2007. It said the number of people receiving the benefits, commonly known as food stamps, would continue growing until 2014.” (Damian Paletta, “Food Stamp Rolls To Grow Through 2014,” The Wall Street Journal’s “Real Time Economics,” 4/19/12)

• “The CBO Projected That One In Seven U.S. Residents Received Food Stamps Last Year.” (Damian Paletta, “Food Stamp Rolls To Grow Through 2014,”The Wall Street Journal’s “Real Time Economics,” 4/19/12)

Since President Obama Took Office, 6.3 Million Americans Have Fallen Into Poverty.(Press Release, “Income, Poverty And Health Insurance Coverage In The United States: 2010,” U.S. Census Bureau, 9/13/11)

• In 2010, The Number Of Americans Living In Poverty (46.2 Million) Reached The Highest Level On Record. (Press Release, “Income, Poverty And Health Insurance Coverage In The United States: 2010,” U.S. Census Bureau, 9/13/11)

The Housing Market Is Still In Crisis And Obama Has Failed To Help

As Of March 2012, Over 5,591,000 Million Mortgages Are Either In Foreclosure Or 30 Or More Days Delinquent. (Press Release, “LPS ‘First Look’ Mortgage Report,” Lender Processing Services, 4/24/12)

“The Alphabet Soup Of Housing Assistance Programs To Date — HAMP, HARP, EHLP, 2MP — Have Been Too Poorly Administered And Too Limited In Scope And Eligibility To Slow Or Halt The Slide In The U.S. Housing Market.” (Eric Wieffering, “Fixing economy Requires More Work On Housing,” Star Tribune, 9/17/11)

• “Every Program Has Fallen Far Short Of Goals.” “‘Every program has fallen far short of goals. I can’t think of one that’s been largely successful,’ says John Dodds, director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, a non-profit that’s been involved in foreclosure prevention for decades.” (Julie Schmit, “What Went Wrong With Foreclosure Aid Programs,” USA Today, 12/12/11)
• The Administration’s Foreclosure Prevention Programs “Have Had Little Impact On The Overall Housing Sector.” “The administration is already using taxpayer funds from its $700 billion bank bailout program to help prevent foreclosures and give struggling Americans a reprieve on their mortgage payments. But the programs have had little impact on the overall housing sector.” (“White House Says Needs To Deal With Housing Problems,” Reuters, 6/5/11)
• “To Date, Administration Programs Have Permanently Reduced The Debt Of Just One Tenth Of 1 Percent Of Underwater Borrowers.” (Zachary A. Goldfarb, “Obama’s Efforts To Aid Homeowners, Boost Housing Market Fall Far Short Of Goals,” The Washington Post, 10/23/11)

OBAMANOMICS IS FAILING TO DELIVER THE JOBS THAT AMERICA NEEDS

Obama Ad: “Instead Of Losing Jobs, We’re Creating Them.” (“Go,” Obama For America, 5/7/12)

Facts: The Economy Remains In “By Far The Worst Jobs Recovery Since The Great Depression.” “Even with the recent gains, this is also by far the worst jobs recovery since the Great Depression, and the U.S. still has about 5.5 million fewer jobs than it did before the recession began in December 2007.” (Editorial, “The January Jobs Thaw,” The Wall Street Journal , 2/4/12)

April’s Weak Jobs Report “Keeps Fears Alive That The U.S. Economy Is Losing Momentum.” “Employers added 115,000 workers to their payrolls last month, the Labor Department said on Friday. The reading keeps fears alive that the U.S. economy is losing momentum and dampens hopes that a stretch of strong winter hiring signaled a turning point for the recovery.” (Jason Lange, “April Hiring Slows, Jobless Rate Falls To 8.1 Percent,”Reuters, 5/4/12)

• Former Biden Economic Adviser, Jared Bernstein: “I’m Not Seeing A Ton Of Sunshine Here.” (CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” 5/4/12)

Obama Has Failed To Produce The Middle Class Jobs He Campaigned On Creating.“Barack Obama campaigned four years ago assailing President George W. Bush for wage losses suffered by the middle class. More than three years into Obama’s own presidency, those declines have only deepened. The rebound from the worst recession since the 1930s has generated relatively few of the moderately skilled jobs that once supported the middle class, tightening the financial squeeze on many Americans, even those who are employed.” (Mike Dorning, “Obama Fails To Stem Middle-Class Slide He Blamed On Bush,”Bloomberg, 4/30/12)

“More Than Half Of All The Jobs Created During The Past Six Months Have Been In Low-Paying Industries Such As Retail And Temporary Help, Joseph Brusuelas, Senior Economist At Bloomberg LP, Noted On Thursday.” (Mark Gongloff and Bonnie Kavoussi, “Job Market Recovery Led By Low-Wage Sectors,” The Huffington Post, 4/5/12)

• “The Jobs Are Lousy, And There Aren’t Enough Of Them.” “The job market these days is sort of like that old Catskills joke: The food is terrible, and the portions are so small. The jobs are lousy, and there aren’t enough of them.” (Mark Gongloff and Bonnie Kavoussi, “Job Market Recovery Led By Low-Wage Sectors,”The Huffington Post, 4/5/12)

“The Problem Is That Most Of The Decent Job Growth We’ve Seen In The Past Few Months Has Been In Sectors That Do Not Pay All That Well.” “The problem is that most of the decent job growth we’ve seen in the past few months has been in sectors that do not pay all that well. The economy has created 1.2 million nonfarm payroll jobs in the past six months — great news. But nearly 668,000 of those jobs — more than 55 percent — have been created in the retail, temp, ‘health care and social assistance’ and ‘leisure and hospitality’ sectors, notes Brusuelas.” (Mark Gongloff and Bonnie Kavoussi, “Job Market Recovery Led By Low-Wage Sectors,” The Huffington Post, 4/5/12)

OBAMA QUIT FOCUSING ON THE ECONOMY AT A CRITICAL TIME TO PURSUE HIS LIBERAL AGENDA

Obama Ad: “You Don’t Quit … And Neither Does He.” (“Go,” Obama For America, 5/7/12)

Facts: Obama Has “A Scattershot Record (At Best) Of Focusing On The Main Concern Of Main Street: Joblessness.” “Obama arrives at his reelection campaign not merely with a weak performance on Wall Street crime enforcement and reform but also with a scattershot record (at best) of focusing on the main concern of Main Street: joblessness.” (Frank Rich, “Obama’s Original Sin,” New York Magazine, 7/3/11)

• After The Stimulus, Obama “Pivoted Too Quickly” Away From The Economy.“And second, as soon as the stimulus package was completed, they pivoted too quickly to addressing climate change and health care.” (Charlie Cook, “Owning It Democrats Are In A Corner On Their Ownership Of The Economy And What They Can Do To Help Turn It Around,” National Journal, 6/6/11)

“After The Stimulus Bill Was Passed In February 2009, Little Else Happened On The Jobs Front For A Year And A Half.” (Ron Suskind, Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, And The Education Of A President, 2011)

Obama Insisted On Pursuing Health Care Reform Despite Warnings From Advisors “That Such An Initiative Would Distract Attention From The Urgent Need To Focus On The Economy And Jobs.” “When it comes to Mr. Obama himself Mr. Scheiber draws a portrait of a president with a messianic streak, whose ‘determination to change the course of history’ made him reluctant to accept Mr. Geithner’s suggestion that his signature achievement would be preventing another Great Depression. Instead the president insisted on pursuing his vision of health care reform in his first year in office even though many of his advisers were warning that such an initiative would distract attention from the urgent need to focus on the economy and jobs.” (Michiko Kakutani, “Obama’s Economists, Not Stimulating Enough,” The New York Times, 2/27/12)

Obama “Must Reconcile An Early Focus On Subjects That Would Best Be Forgotten .““For Obama, it’s pretty clear the recovery won’t be nearly as robust. In addition, he has to deal with a more complicated narrative where he must reconcile an early focus on subjects that would best be forgotten with making the case that he should have his contract renewed for another four years. That won’t be easy.” (Charlie Cook, “Owning It Democrats Are In A Corner On Their Ownership Of The Economy And What They Can Do To Help Turn It Around,”National Journal, 6/6/11)

In 2009, The White House “Assumed A Recovery Was Under Way” And So Fixing The Economy Was “No Longer Their Top Priority.” “Today, that brief period of optimism looks like one of the worst things that could have happened to the White House, other Democrats and, above all, the economy. The nascent recovery removed the urgency that the Obama administration and Democratic senators felt in early 2009. They still favored more action, like aid to states and tax cuts, but it was no longer their top priority. They assumed a recovery was under way.” (David Leonhardt, “Job Losses Outweigh Administration’s Successes,” The New York Times,10/26/10)

• Charlie Cook: It Was A “Colossal Mistake” To Shift Focus To Health Care Instead Of Focusing “Like A Laser Beam” On The Economy. “But nearly a year after Obama’s inauguration, judging by where the Democrats stand today, it’s clear that they have made a colossal miscalculation. The latest unemployment and housing numbers underscore the folly of their decision to pay so much attention to health care and climate change instead of focusing on the economy ‘like a laser beam,’ as President Clinton pledged to do during his 1992 campaign.” (Charlie Cook, “Colossal Miscalculation On Health Care,” National Journal, 2/16/10)