President Obama moved his previously scheduled remarks on the economy from a gym at Fort Myer, Va. to the Rose Garden on Friday after the Labor Department reported that unemployment fell in July for the first time since April 2008, to 9.4 percent, in another sign the recession might be easing.
Sunshine, singing birds and colorful flowers surely evoke better times ahead, and helped put an exclamation point on a jobs report that exceeded the expectations of most economists and even the White House.
Obama took a victory lap of sorts, crediting the economic stimulus package (PL 111-5) and other Democratic initiatives for bringing the nation back from the brink. And he again plugged overhauling the health system, creating green jobs and bolstering education as necessary for building a sustained recovery.
"We have a lot further to go. As far as I am concerned we will not have a true recovery as long as we are losing jobs," Obama said. The president went on to rhapsodize about Americans he's met who are facing adversity but managing to keep their faith in the country and the future.
Such lofty talk doesn't mean Obama is finished playing the blame game, however.
With polls showing the public remains skeptical of his handling of the economy and health care, Obama sees benefit in portraying congressional Republicans and the administration of George W. Bush as the culprits behind the greatest economic collapse since the Great Depression. On Thursday night, he opined that some of these individuals aren't entitled to weigh in on the current debate.
"I don't want the folks who created the mess do a lot of talking (sic)," Obama said Thursday night at a boisterous rally in Tysons Corner, Va. for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds. "I want them just to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking."
Perhaps those Republican attacks on the stimulus really are getting to the president. But the red meat rhetoric isn't likely to stop the GOP. House Majority Leader John A. Boehner and other party leaders were quick to maintain the drumbeat of criticism on Friday, noting that 2 million Americans have lost jobs since the stimulus was enacted and blaming the Democrats' "spending binge" for enlarging the deficit.
"While the Administration attempts to rewrite history on its trillion-dollar 'stimulus' pending bill, the fact is that it has not provided a 'jolt' to our economy. It has not created jobs immediately. And it certainly has not held unemployment below eight percent, as the Administration promised it would earlier this year," Boehner said in a statement.
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Comments
As King obama's policies fail, one by one like falling dominos...so will his popularity and with it his pleasant attitude which will decay just as our economy and our way of life...very soon the King will be foaming at the mouth like the rabid animal he truly is.
Posted by: rollo
| August 7, 2009 4:08 PM
www.thepetitionsite.com/3/impeach-obama
Posted by: rollo
| August 7, 2009 4:09 PM
Come on, who is believing this? The real Unemployment trend is continuing its increase.
DON’T BELIEVE THE DOUBLE-SPEAK
Ignoring economic reality is more than simply idiotic.
http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2009/08/obama-middle-class-income-tax-increases.html
…..Keep saving every dime you can for tomorrow.
Posted by: PacificGatePost
| August 7, 2009 4:31 PM
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