What You Won’t Hear About from Dems Today: Jobs, Energy or ObamaCare

Obama Wishes He Could Change the Subject as Americans Reject the Democrats’ Handling of the Issues They Care About Most 

• Democrats are desperate to create a distraction from their abysmal record of failure, so President Obama will give a speech today in which he will demagogue the House Republican plan to make Washington live within its means, balance the budget and preserve and protect Medicare.
• The Democrats’ failures are hitting Americans where it hurts most: gas prices are rising, Democrats refuse to repeal their signature government healthcare takeover that remains unpopular as ever and the unemployment rate is still sky high. 
• Meanwhile, for some bizarre and unexplained reason, Democrats continue to push for more of the same failed, job-destroying policies.

Democrats are desperate to create a distraction from their abysmal record of failure, so President Obama will give a speech today in which he will demagogue the House Republican plan to make Washington live within its means, balance the budget and preserve and protect Medicare: 

“OBAMA DENOUNCES ‘RADICAL’ REPUBLICAN BUDGET PLAN”: (Ken Thomas, “Obama Denounces ‘Radical’ Republican Budget Plan,” Associated Press, 4/3/2012) 

OBAMA PRACTICES DEMAGOGUERY: RYAN PLAN “A TROJAN HORSE,” “THINLY VEILED SOCIAL DARWININSM”: “ ‘It’s a Trojan horse. Disguised as deficit reduction plan, it’s really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country,’ Obama said in excerpts of his speech released Tuesday. ‘It’s nothing but thinly veiled social Darwinism.” (Ken Thomas, “Obama Denounces ‘Radical’ Republican Budget Plan,” Associated Press, 4/3/2012) 

MORE MEDISCARE FROM OBAMA? POLITIFACT CALLED THE DEMOCRATS’ MEDISCARE DEMAGOGUERY THE “LIE OF THE YEAR”: (Bill Adair and Angie Drobnic Holan, “Lie of the Year 2011: ‘Republicans Voted to End Medicare,’” Politifact.com, 12/20/2011) 

THE HOUSE UNANIMOUSLY REJECTED OBAMA’S OWN BUDGET BLUEPRINT 414-0: (Pete Kasperowicz, “0-414 Vote: House Clobbers Budget Proposal based on Obama 2013 Plan,” The Hill, 3/28/2012) 

The Democrats’ failures are hitting Americans where it hurts most: gas prices are rising, Democrats refuse to repeal their signature government healthcare takeover that remains unpopular as ever and the unemployment rate is still sky high:

GAS PRICES STILL RISING:

101%: THE AMOUNT GAS PRICES HAVE INCREASED UNDER OBAMA, THE HIGHEST GAS PRICE INCREASE SINCE CARTER: ($1.928/gallon in Feb 2009; $3.874/gallon on 3/29/2012) (Series ID: APU000074714, “Gasoline, Unleaded Regular, Per Gallon/3.785 Liters,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 4/3/2012; “Petroleum & Other Liquids,” U.S. Energy Information Administration, Accessed 4/3/2012)

OBAMACARE POLITICALLY TOXIC:

NATIONAL JOURNAL POLL: 66% OPPOSE MANDATE: “The mandate on individuals to purchase insurance or pay a penalty, as in earlier national polls, remains an idea without any significant constituency. Overall, when asked if ‘the federal government should or should not be able to require all Americans to obtain health insurance or else pay a fine,’ just 28 percent of those surveyed said they supported the mandate, while 66 percent opposed it.” (Ronald Brownstein, “Public Still Opposes Health Care Mandate,” National Journal, 3/27/2012) 

NEW CBS/NEW YORK TIMES POLL: 47% OPPOSE OBAMACARE: “In the latest poll, 47 percent said they oppose the law while 36 percent approve, with the rest having no opinion. The results are similar to previous surveys that have consistently found the law’s detractors outnumbering its supporters.” (Dalia Sussman, Helene Cooper, and Kate Phillips, “Most Americans Oppose Health Law, Poll Finds,” New York Times, 3/27/2012)

ABC NEWS/WASHINGTON POST POLL: 55% FAVOR REPEALING ENTIRE HEALTHCARE LAW: (Greg Holyk, “As Health Care Law’s Trial Approaches, Two-Thirds Say Ditch Individual Mandate,” ABC News, 3/19/2012)

STUDY: OBAMACARE COST DEMOCRATS THE HOUSE: “A top Democrat acknowledged Thursday that President Obama’s health care bill hurt his party in 2010. And a new study suggests it cost the Democrats something pretty specific: their House majority…The study, by five professors from institutions across the country, looks at the health care bill alongside other contentious votes in the 111th Congress and determines that, more so than the stimulus or the cap-and-trade energy bill, it cost Democrats seats. In fact, they lost almost exactly the number of seats that decided the majority.” (Aaron Blake, “Study Shows Health Care Bill May Have Cost Democrats the House,” The Washington Post, 3/9/2012)

UNEMPLOYMENT STILL UNACCEPTABLY HIGH:

AVERAGE MEAN DURATION OF UNEMPLOYMENT AT RECORD HIGH:(“Average (Mean) Duration of Unemployment,” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 3/9/2012) 

“8.3% UNEMPLOYMENT EXTENDS LONGEST STREAK OF 8.0%+ UNEMPLOYMENT RATE SINCE GREAT DEPRESSION”: (Tweet from James Pethokoukis, The American, 3/9/2012) 

DEMOCRATS PREDICTED UNEMPLOYMENT WOULD BE ABOUT 6 PERCENT IF WE PASSED THEIR $800 BILLION STIMULUS: (“Revisiting Unemployment Projections,” e21, 6/7/2011) 

49 MONTHS SINCE U.S. HIT PEAK EMPLOYMENT IN JANUARY 2008: “But America remains mired in the longest jobs recession since the Great Depression. It’s been 49 months since the U.S. hit peak employment in January 2008. And with nonfarm payrolls still 5.33 million below their old high, the jobs slump will continue for several more years.” (Ed Carson, “Jobs Recession Now 49 Months: Longest Since WWII,” Investor’s Business Daily, 3/9/2012) 

LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION AT 63.9%, DOWN FROM 65.7% WHEN OBAMA TOOK OFFICE: (Labor Force Participation Rate, “Databases, Tables & Calculators by Subject,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 3/9/2012) 

AT CURRENT RATE OF JOB CREATION, WOULD TAKE FIVE MORE YEARSTO GET TO 2007 LOW UNEMPLOYMENT RATE OF 4.4%: “In May of 2007, the unemployment rate was 4.4%. Even at 225,000 jobs a month, we would not get there for 5 more years” (Tweet from James Pethokoukis, The American, 3/9/2012)

LAST JOBS REPORT SHOWED UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE AT 14.9%: (Table A-15, “Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, 3/8/2012)

Meanwhile, for some bizarre and unexplained reason, Democrats continue to push for more of the same failed, job-destroying policies:

WSJ: OBAMA’S “BUFFETT RULE” GIMMICK “YIELDS A PITTANCE”:(Editorial, “The Bottom 0.1%,” The Wall Street Journal, 3/22/2012)

BUFFETT GIMMICK WOULD INCREASE REVENUE BY “LESS THAN ONE-TENTH OF ONE PERCENT OF THE $1.2 TRILLION BUDGET DEFICIT” (0.1%):“This year, the Buffett rule would increase federal revenues by all of $1.1 billion. That’s less than one-tenth of one percent of the $1.2 trillion budget deficit Mr. Obama is scheduled to run this year. Through 2022 Joint Tax expects less than $47 billion in total new revenues from the Buffett rule while the government will be adding trillions of dollars to the national debt. Joint Tax even concedes, as it is rarely wont to do, that the rule will affect taxpayer behavior: By raising the effective tax rate on capital gains, the rule will encourage people to realize fewer capital gains.” (Editorial, “The Bottom 0.1%,” The Wall Street Journal, 3/22/2012)

CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE CONCLUDED DEMOCRATS’ GAS PRICE GIMMICKRY COULD ACTUALLY INCREASE OIL PRICES AND FOREIGN OIL DEPENDENCY: “Last year, a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service that was getting renewed attention on Thursday concluded that Obama’s oil and gas proposals ‘may have the effect of decreasing exploration, development, and production, while increasing prices and increasing the nation’s foreign oil dependence.’” (Julie Pace, “Obama Demands Congress End Oil, Gas Subsidies,” Associated Press, 3/1/2012)

DEMS’ TAX INCREASE WILL HURT CONSUMERS “AT THE LOWER END OF THE ECONOMIC SPECTRUM”: “Indeed, trying to punish the oil industry with higher taxes will in the end only wind up punishing consumers — particularly those at the lower end of the economic spectrum.” (“Punishing Big Oil Won’t Cut Prices,” Investor’s Business Daily, 5/5/2011) 

70 PERCENT OF OIL COMPANY OWNERSHIP IS BY “MIDDLE-CLASS AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS”: “Our analysis of SEC data on the ownership of U.S. oil and natural gas companies demonstrates that company insiders – corporate officers, senior executives and board members – have very small holdings in the companies they manage.  Nearly 70 percent of the shares of these companies are held by institutional investors, especially asset management companies, and predominantly on behalf middle-class American households who own shares through mutual funds, pension funds and retirement accounts. Individual investors who manage their own portfolios and are not company insiders account for almost 30 percent of all industry ownership, which again includes significant numbers of middle-class households  holding IRA and other personal retirement accounts.”(Robert Shapiro and Nam Pham, “The Distribution and Ownership of U.S. Oil and Gas Companies,” Sonecon, Inc., Sep. 2007)