If you’re a Republican, reacting to today’s jobs report is the easiest task in the world. The economy lost 467,000 jobs in June, far more than expected — which means Republicans now have a strong reason to ask what we’re getting out of the $787 billion stimulus package.
“Spending, taxing, and borrowing with reckless abandon is no way to create more jobs,” House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio said in a statement this morning. Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said the numbers prove that “the stimulus package is not a ‘Recovery Act.’ ”
Boehner even released a video featuring bloodhounds trying to find any jobs created by the stimulus. (Get it?)
But what do you do if you’re a Democrat? Your spin job is a lot harder. Finally, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California showed her party how it’s done. You sympathize with those who lost their jobs but say it would have been worse without the stimulus. And — still — you blame George W. Bush.
“Today’s unemployment numbers are another reminder of the years of failure to invest in making Americans the most highly educated and innovative workforce in the world — and years of delay on affordable health care and the clean energy jobs and industries that will sustain our economy for years to come,” Pelosi said in her statement.
But can that model work for President Obama? Can he still blame the economy on Bush as we head into July? Even as polls show Americans are starting to hold him responsible for his economic policies?
Obama will probably have to speak to this later today as he meets with business leaders to talk about the role of innovation in creating jobs. But the other person who will have a big stake in this is Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who is in charge of implementing the stimulus.
A Time magazine article that explores Biden’s role in that effort includes this wonderful passage: “‘My rear end is on the line just like yours,’ Biden barks, surrounded by a flock of aides in his West Wing office. ‘I’m the guy in charge of this deal. So if this doesn’t work, it’s me.’”
So where’s Biden today? In Iraq.
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Comments
It's not like preventing a terrorist attack. For preventing a terrorist attack 8 month in office (e.g. 9/11) simply isn't enough time.
But of course 5 1/2 month in office should be enough to fix the worldwide economic collapse created by the housing bubble which was created by the deregulation policies of the last years.
Posted by: jschoder
| July 3, 2009 4:43 AM
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