If You Liked the Dems’ First 60%, Just Wait for What’s Next

October 25, 2011

Obama Says His Agenda is 60% Done, But What More Could He and Dems Do to Damage America’s Economy?

President Obama said yesterday in a Hollywood fundraiser that 60% of his agenda is “done,” never mind that wide majorities of Americans think his policies are a failure. It makes you wonder what’s left in that other 40%.
Still trying to sell the American people on that 60%, Vice President Biden claimed last weekend that the Democrats’ stimulus “did very good things” for the economy. If it did such “very good things,” then why are Democrats going out of their way to not even utter the word “stimulus” these days?
The unfortunate reality about the Democrats’ 60% is that deep concerns about unemployment and a sluggish economy remain. If Democrats think they’ve “done” their job, Americans beg to differ.

BACKGROUND

President Obama said yesterday in a Hollywood fundraiser that 60% of his agenda is “done,” never mind that wide majorities of Americans think his policies are a failure. It makes you wonder what’s left in that other 40%:

OBAMA TO HOLLYWOOD: “WE’VE GOT ABOUT 60 PERCENT DONE”: “Remarking that he keeps a checklist of goals in his desk, Mr. Obama took out a pen and acted as if he were checking off some items on his list.

” ‘We’ve got about 60 percent done,’ he said. ‘I’m pretty confident we can get the next 40 percent done in the next five years.'” (Stephanie Condon, “Obama Tells Hollywood Supporters, I’ve Finished 60% of My Goals,” CBS News, 10/25/2011)

DEMOCRACY CORPS: 76% OF AMERICANS SAY NATION ON WRONG TRACK,ONLY 15% SAY RIGHT DIRECTION: (“Democracy Corps/Center for American Progress,”Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, 10/15-18/2011)

CNN: 59% OF AMERICANS NOW SAY OBAMA’S POLICIES WILL FAIL, NEARLY DOUBLE THE LEVEL IN 2009: “According to the survey, 36% say they think the president’s policies will succeed, with 59% saying Obama’s policies will fail, up 12 points from last year and nearly double the 32% who said in 2009 that the president’s policies will fail.” (“CNN Poll: Record High Say Obama’s Policies Will Fail,” CNN, 10/17/2011)

Still trying to sell the American people on that 60%, Vice President Biden claimed last weekend that the Democrats’ stimulus “did very good things” for the economy. If it did such “very good things,” then why are Democrats going out of their way to not even utter the word “stimulus” these days?:

BIDEN TELLS CNN: “NOBODY” CAN SAY STIMULUS “DID NOT DO VERY GOOD THINGS” FOR THE ECONOMY: CNN’s CANDY CROWLEY: “Aren’t people also saying look we did almost $1 trillion in stimulus spending, and you all at that time said oh, unemployment won’t go above 8%, GDP will be a lot higher than it is now and it isn’t, and so now we need another leap with the jobs bill.” VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: “No. Look, here’s the deal. Nobody can look you in the eye and tell you that the Recovery Act and that stimulus did not create jobs and did not do very good things for the economy.” (CNN’s “State Of The Union”, 10/23/11)

BUT IF THE STIMULUS WAS SUCH A SUCCESS, WHY ARE DEMOCRATS STILL TRYING TO RENAME IT?

DEMS NOW SAYING “WE CAN’T WAIT” FOR STIMULUS 2.0 AFTER “PASS THIS BILL NOW” FAILED: “President Obama’s growing impatience with Congress’ refusal to ‘pass this bill now’ has launched a new approach — bypassing Congress by taking actions that don’t require congressional support and insisting that ‘We Can’t Wait’ for any more delays on Capitol Hill.” (“President Begins ‘We Can’t Wait’ Economic Push,” Fox News, 10/24/2011)

AND OBAMA CAN’T SAY THE S-WORD STIMULUS: OBAMA JOBS RE-DO SPEECH USED THE WORD “STIMULUS” ZERO TIMES. (“Address by the President to a Joint Session of Congress,” The White House, 9/8/2011)

OBAMA LAST USED THE WORD “STIMULUS” IN JULY. (“Speeches and Remarks,” The White House, Accessed 10/16/2011)

FLASHBACK: WHITE HOUSE CONSIDERED RESHUFFLING THE BUREAUCRACY AND REBRANDING WITH A NEW “DEPARTMENT OF JOBS”: “The administration may also merge the Department of Commerce, the Office of the United States Trade Representative and some economic divisions at the State Department into a new agency, administration officials said. Possible names include the Department of Jobs or the Department of Competitiveness.” (Binyamin Applebaum and Helene Cooper, “White House Debates Fight on Economy,” The New York Times, 8/13/2011)

AND WHAT HAPPENED TO “WINNING THE FUTURE”? IN STATE OF THE UNION 2011, ‘WIN THE FUTURE’ APPEARED NEARLY A DOZEN TIMES: “Obama repeatedly declared the imperative to ‘win the future,’ comparing the current need for innovation to the space race against the Soviet Union in the 1950s and ’60s. … His overarching theme – of ‘winning the future,’ a phrase he used nearly a dozen times – had patriotic underpinnings, part of his effort to reach a broad swath of the electorate and strike a balance between sounding too rosy and too alarmed about America’s standing in the world.” (Anne E. Kornblut and Scott Wilson, “State of the Union 2011: ‘Win the Future,’ Obama Says,” The Washington Post, 1/26/2011)

BUT OBAMA LAST USED THE PHRASE “WIN THE FUTURE” NEARLY A MONTH AGO, AT A DNC EVENT: (“Search: ‘win the future’,” The White House, Accessed 10/24/2011)

The unfortunate reality about the Democrats’ 60% is that deep concerns about unemployment and a sluggish economy remain. If Democrats think they’ve “done” their job, Americans beg to differ:

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE DROPS TO LOWEST LEVEL IN TWO AND A HALF YEARS: “Consumer confidence unexpectedly dropped to its lowest level in two-and-a-half years in October as consumers fretted about job and income prospects.” (Leah Schnurr, “Consumer Confidence Tumbles in October,” Reuters, 10/25/2011)

TRANSLATION: CONSUMER CONFIDENCE BACK AT RECESSION LEVELS: “In a terrible sign for the economy and President Obama’s popularity, consumer confidence tanked in October to levels last seen at the start of the 2008 recession, according to a leading economic indicator.

“The Conference Board said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index dropped steeply to 39.8 from 46.4 in September. The index stood at 45.2 in August in the wake of the market crash and Congressional debt ceiling debacle.” (Erik Wasson, “Consumer Confidence Drops Steeply,” The Hill, 10/25/2011)

“EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK IN U.S. WORST SINCE 2010: SURVEY”: “U.S. companies’ hiring plans reflect the worst employment outlook since January 2010 as demand slows in the world’s largest economy, a private survey showed. Fewer companies project payrolls to rise in the next six months compared with a July survey, while more plan to cut workers, the National Association for Business Economics said today in Washington. The share of firms planning to raise prices was the smallest in almost two years.” (Shobana Chandra, “Employment Outlook in U.S. Worst Since 2010: Survey,” Bloomberg, 10/24/2011)

GALLUP: SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS NAME REGULATION AS TOP CONCERN AND ONE-THIRD FEAR GOING OUT OF BUSINESS: “Small-business owners in the United States are most likely to say complying with government regulations (22%) is the most important problem facing them today, followed by consumer confidence in the economy (15%) and lack of consumer demand (12%).

“Looking ahead to 2012, approximately one in three small-business owners say they are very or moderately worried about going out of business. About the same number are worried about not being able to compete with large or global competitors, not being able to hire the number of employees they need, and not being able to pay their employees. Thirty percent worry they will have to reduce their number of employees.” (Dennis Jacobe, “Gov’t Regulations at Top of Small-Business Owners’ Problem List,” Gallup, 10/24/2011)