On Wed. Sept. 7, Republican presidential candidates shared their ideas on how to stimulate the economy and put Americans back to work. The following night, Barack Obama delivered his highly anticipated jobs speech during a joint session of congress. When it comes to job creation track records, overall confidence and an ability to actually improve the economy, the contrast between the president and Texas Gov. Rick Perry could not have been more stark.
Considering another recent Rasmussen poll, which shows Perry now leading Obama for the first time by a margin of 44 percent to 41 percent the Texas Gov. is clearly giving the president some serious reasons to be concerned.
In anticipation of the president’s speech, Bloomberg reported White House press secretary Jay Carney saying Obama’s jobs speech would include “some new proposals that you have not heard us talk about.” Unfortunately, the “new proposals” outlined by the president in the American Jobs Act of 2011 sounded just like those of the failed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; infrastructure spending, revival of the failed Build America Bonds program, tax credits for employers and tax increases to successful businesses and the rich.
Insert Einstein’s definition of insanity here.
Missing from Obama’s speech was the promised details of his new proposal. In fact, there is no written proposal at all, not even in draft form. Where the president began his speech by saying “Tonight we meet at an urgent time for our country,” he said we have to wait another week to see what it is.
Also unmentioned was the $300 billion price tag of the new American Jobs Act , which one Democrat familiar with the president’s plan said was already growing and could top $400 billion according to CNN. A recent report by The Atlantic shows that Americans do not want more stimulus spending they want government to cut spending.
According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, 62 percent of those surveyed say they disapprove of the way the president is handling the economy and, what has become issue No. 1, the stagnant jobs situation.
As for confidence, Obama said “pass this bill” a total of 18 times. He gave the same urgency to the last failed jobs plan. By punctuating the monotonous phrase with the words “right away” made the president sound desperate. How can congress pass “right away” a $400 billion dollar plan they have not even seen? On Rick Perry’s website he boldly proposes to use the same tax cutting, pro growth ideas he applied to Texas to the nation to turn the economy around.
When it comes to track records – Perry’s leadership “created 1 million jobs in the state of Texas” while Obama’s method “lost 2.5 million” nationally. An Aug. Gallup poll shows the economy and jobs remain the top two concerns of American voters.
On the heels of a Obama’s “net zero” jobs report for Aug. and a national unemployment rate stuck at 9.1 percent, the president’s already dismal approval numbers are certain to take another hit.
At the GOP debate, Perry reiterated his vow to “wipe out” Obamacare. Doug Elmendorf of the Congressional Budget Office has already concluded that Obamacare will kill 800,000 jobs and 200 economists have likened Obamacare to an “economic train wreck.” The latest Rasmussen poll shows 57% of likely U.S. voters wanting Obamacare repealed.
Obama’s green jobs pipe dream will also be a Perry target.
When it comes to a proven ability to turn an economy around, under Obama’s watch, the United States credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history. Under Perry’s tenure as governor, the credit rating for Texas went up.