What Will the Democrats’ Next Stimulus Slogan Be?

November 14, 2011

Americans Reject Obama Economic Policies Despite a Massive Campaign to Sell Stimulus 2.0

Recent polling shows President Obama’s approval ratings on the economy and jobs as low as ever, with Americans continuing to reject the Democrats’ calls for more of the same failed stimulus policies.
These numbers come despite a massive PR campaign by Democrats claiming that “we can’t wait” for a second stimulus after demanding that Congress “pass this bill now.”
The failure of “we can’t wait” and “pass this bill now” follows the failure of several other Democrat stimulus slogans. Since Democrats appear to have no intention of renouncing their failed stimulus policies, we may as well start the betting: what will the Democrats’ next stimulus slogan be?

BACKGROUND

Recent polling shows President Obama’s approval ratings on the economy and jobs as low as ever, with Americans continuing to reject the Democrats’ calls for more of the same failed stimulus policies:

ABC NEWS/WASHINGTON POST: OBAMA LOSES LEAD ON JOBS AS VOTERS LEARN MORE ABOUT HIS STIMULUS 2.0: “Obama 2012 campaign officials had previously heralded the president’s lead as evidence that his push for his jobs bill was resonating with voters. Citing the ABC News/Washington Post poll indicating that in September, the president held a lead of 49 to 34 percent, senior adviser David Axelrod wrote in a memo released to the press, ‘Trust in creating jobs has gone from a tie in early September to a 15 percent advantage for the President.’

“In the new poll, however, when asked ‘Who do you trust to do a better job creating jobs,’ 40 percent of respondents cited President Obama and 40 percent cited the Republicans in Congress.” (Jake Tapper, “Obama Back to Parity With Republicans on Job Creation,” ABC News, 11/8/2011)

CBS NEWS POLL: “OBAMA DISAPPROVAL RATING ON ECONOMY AT RECORD HIGH”: “About 60 percent of voters said they disapprove of Mr. Obama’s handling of the economy, the highest on record. Just 34 percent approve of the job he is doing on the matter.” (Corbett B. Daly, “Poll: Obama Disapproval Rating on Economy at Record High,” CBS News, 11/11/2011)

GALLUP: OBAMA FACES SUBSTANTIAL “CONFIDENCE DEFICIT” ON CREATING JOBS: “The confidence gap has turned to a confidence deficit for Obama in 12 key swing states, however, according to a Gallup poll of the battlegrounds released last week. … Forty-nine percent of respondents in a combined survey of the the swing states said they think Republicans would do a better job solving the jobs crisis, while 42 percent favored Obama. The poll, conducted between Oct. 20-27, has a margin of error of three percentage points.” (Jake Tapper, “Obama Back to Parity With Republicans on Job Creation,” ABC News, 11/8/2011)

GALLUP: 30% APPROVE, 67% DISAPPROVE OF OBAMA ON ECONOMY: (Lydia Saad, “Obama Approves on Foreign Affairs, Struggles on Fiscal Matters,” Gallup, 11/9/2011)

MORE: 36% APPROVE, 60% DISAPPROVE OF OBAMA ON CREATING JOBS: (Lydia Saad, “Obama Approves on Foreign Affairs, Struggles on Fiscal Matters,” Gallup, 11/9/2011)

These numbers come despite a massive PR campaign by Democrats claiming that “we can’t wait” for a second stimulus after demanding that Congress “pass this bill now”:

WHITE HOUSE SAYS “WE CAN’T WAIT” FOR MORE STIMULUS, EVEN THOUGH THE FIRST ONE 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)

WHITE HOUSE HAS CALLED TO “PASS THIS BILL” DOZENS OF TIMES SINCE SEPTEMBER JOBS RE-DO SPEECH: (“Search ‘pass this bill,’” The White House, Accessed 11/10/2011)

BUT HAS PIVOTED TO “WE CAN’T WAIT” SINCE LATE OCTOBER: (“Search ‘we can’t wait,’” The White House, Accessed 11/10/2011)

The failure of “we can’t wait” and “pass this bill now” follows the failure of several other Democrat stimulus slogans. Since Democrats appear to have no intention of renouncing their failed stimulus policies, we may as well start the betting: what will the Democrats’ next stimulus slogan be?:

CHRONOLOGY OF A STIMULUS SLOGAN

“WE CAN’T WAIT” WAS PRECEDED BY “PASS THIS BILL NOW”:

“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)

WHY “PASS THIS BILL NOW”? BECAUSE DEMS WERE AFRAID TO USE THE WORD “STIMULUS”:

PELOSI TRYING TO RENAME STIMULUS: “Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Democrats have dropped the word ‘stimulus’ from their vocabulary.” (Mike Lillis, “Pelosi Drops the Word ‘Stimulus’,” The Hill, 9/6/2011)

OBAMA’S “NEW AND IMPROVED” JOB PLAN “COULD AMOUNT TO A SIGNIFICANT STIMULUS OF BETWEEN $300 BILLION AND $400 BILLION… BUT [OBAMA] WON’T USE THE WORD”: (David Wessel, “Obama Tries to Rewrite Narrative on Jobs,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/7/2011)

FORMER WH ECONOMIST: MORE STIMULUS, BUT “YOU WON’T HEAR THE S WORD”: “‘You won’t hear the word ‘stimulus’ — the ‘s word’ — because that just is politically unappealing right now,’ Jared Bernstein, who left his post as Vice President Joe Biden’s top economist in June, told us on ABC’s ‘Top Line’ today. ‘But you will hear targeted measures, which I think is actually a more apt description of what I think the president will talk about.’” (Rick Klein, “Obama to Seek Stimulus Funds—But ‘You Won’t Hear the S Word’,” ABC News’ The Note Blog, 8/31/2011)

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)

DEMS CONTEMPLATED CREATING A “DEPARTMENT OF JOBS”:

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)

BEFORE THAT, OBAMA DEBUTED “WIN THE FUTURE” IN HIS STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH:

“STATE OF THE UNION 2011: ‘WIN THE FUTURE,’ OBAMA SAYS,” NEARLY A DOZEN TIMES IN THAT SPEECH ALONE: “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)

“WINNING THE FUTURE” WAS ACCOMPANIED BY AN EMPHASIS ON NEW “INVESTMENT”:

OBAMA REFERENCED VARIATIONS ON “INVESTMENT” 13 TIMES IN STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH:(“Remarks by the President in State of the Union Address,” The White House, 1/25/2011)

AND IT ALL BEGAN WITH “STIMULUS”:

WHICH, BY OBAMA’S ADMISSION, WAS A CODE-WORD FOR ANOTHER MALIGNED CONCEPT: “SPENDING”: “So then you get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill. What do you think a stimulus is? (Laughter and applause.) That’s the whole point. No, seriously. (Laughter.) That’s the point. (Applause.)” (“Remarks by the President at House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference,”The White House, 2/5/2009)

AND WE CAN’T FORGET “GREEN JOBS”… WHICH, BY THE WAY, “WE CAN’T WAIT” FOR:

OBAMA SAID HIS 2009 BUDGET WOULD CREATE “GREEN JOBS”: “[T]his budget will spark the transformation we need to create green jobs and launch renewable energy companies right here in California.” (“Remarks by the President at Costa Mesa Town Hall,” The White House, 3/18/2009)

GUILT BY OMISSION? “GREEN JOBS” APPEARED ZERO TIMES IN OBAMA JOBS RE-DO SPEECH.(“Address by the President to a Joint Session of Congress,” The White House, 9/8/2011)

“CLEAN ENERGY” APPEARED ZERO TIMES. (“Address by the President to a Joint Session of Congress,” The White House, 9/8/2011)