Liberals now say the president can’t be blamed for the lousy recovery because he couldn’t get his agenda enacted even when Democrats held a supermajority in Congress. And we should be confident in his leadership?
On the stump, Mitt Romney has started a new and very effective line of attack against Obama. “He got every piece of legislation he wanted passed, and it didn’t work,” Romney told Politico this week. “I think (voters) want someone who has a different record, and I do.”
Paul Ryan used the same attack line in his first speech as Romney’s VP pick. “No one disputes President Obama inherited a difficult situation,” Ryan said. “And, in his first two years, with his party in complete control of Washington, he passed nearly every item on his agenda. But that didn’t make things better.”
The argument cuts to the core of Obama’s claim that Republicans have stymied his ability to get anything done. Which is why the left is so intent on squashing it, even at the expense of making Obama look inept.
Talking Points Memo, an influential lefty opinion site, called Romney’s claim “mostly ahistorical” and went on to say Republicans “used a record number of filibusters in the Senate to weaken — and in some cases thwart — large pieces of (Obama’s) agenda.” Well, not exactly.
TPM says, for example, that the Obama stimulus “had to be scaled down because (of) a GOP filibuster.” But the final $830 billion stimulus bill Obama signed was almost identical in size to the one passed in the House, where the minority has no ability to filibuster.
And Obama then got another $3 billion for his Cash for Clunkers, a follow-on $17.6 billion “jobs” bill and $26 billion in additional state aide.
He also got Dodd-Frank, the auto bailouts, “green” energy loans, a student loan takeover and of course, ObamaCare…
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Ah, “cash for clunkers,” AKA “destroy the used car market lower-income people depend on for transportation and parts for older cars.”
Man, people thought I was nuts the way I reacted when that came out, they didn’t get it was like random arson to “improve the construction market.”
And don’t forget a little tidbit no Dem speaks of: by not passing a budget and funding government by Continuing Resolutions, what was to be a one-time $800 billion “stimulus” becomes part of the next year’s budget with an automatic 8% increase. Senate Majority Leader Dingy Lying Delusional Hairy Reid leads that scurrilous activity, three years in a row now. He’s a Democrat, in case you forgot.
If you accuse them with the truth you make them the victim. How dare you!!
What is this *inherited* crap?!?
Last time I looked, the position was voluntary.
The Empty Chair did not “inherit” anything. He actively campaigned for the job. An inheritance is something that just comes to you regardless of your actions.
A bit off topic? The picture is familiar. As an experienced landlord, I have learned that drywall craters come in two sizes- fist and head.