Over the course of a modern presidential election, the major-party candidates are going to release all kinds of television ads and videos. Some, however, are more important than others.
President Obama's re-election team unveiled this new spot overnight, called "The Choice," and unlike the daily back-and-forth, attack-counterattack messaging, this one carries a greater significance. On MSNBC this morning, John Heilemann called it a "seminal ad," adding, "I think it's going to be an ad that you're going to look back on as having been an important ad in the course of the whole election."
This is a minute-long ad—double the usual length—featuring the president speaking directly to the camera for nearly the entire 60 seconds. Whenever an incumbent is seeking re-election, there's an inevitable "referendum vs. choice" tension, and this spot is intended to push the latter theme—Obama uses the word "choice" three times.
What's more, the ad manages to be criticize Mitt Romney with a deft touch, rather than a sledgehammer. The president explains that the Republican supports tax breaks for the wealthy, fewer safeguards for Wall Street, and trickle-down economics—before reminding viewers, "We tried that top-down approach. It's what caused the mess in the first place."
Obama then offers an alternative vision: "I believe the only way to create an economy built to last is to strengthen the middle class. Asking the wealthy to pay a little more so we can pay down our debt in a balanced way. So that we can afford to invest in education, manufacturing, and homegrown American energy for good middle class jobs. Sometimes politics can seem very small. But the choice you face, it couldn't be bigger."
As a rule, it's tough to capture the larger themes of a historic presidential election in less than a minute—unless you're prepared to speak very quickly—but this ad does it extremely well. Want to know Obama's 2012 message in a nutshell? Here it is, in one 60-second package.
It also expresses a high degree of confidence, which may or may not be misplaced, that voters actually care about substance and policies. Obama isn't afraid to let the public know, for example, that he wants the wealthy to pay a little more, so we can invest in priorities the American mainstream still cares about.
But it's the whole talk-directly-to-the-camera thing that probably stands out most. The underlying strategy, I suspect, is that the president's re-election team believes Obama is still personally popular and likable, and having him communicate this way is intended to help reinforce a larger connection. My strong hunch is that Mitt Romney, who's less likable, more awkward, and harder to relate to on a personal level, wouldn't run an ad like this—and if he did, the spot would be far less effective.
The ad is set to run in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Mark Halperin called it "totally worth watching," and in this case, I think he's right.
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Is it just me, or is he looking at something over my right shoulder?
And, didn't we thoroughly castigate Ms. Bachmann for the same thing?
Look me in the eye, Mister President!
He can't look you in the eye and look at his teleprompter at the same time.
Six years of "crony socialism" has given us "the most Americans EVER in poverty and on food stamps."
Political Payoffs = Middle Class Layoffs
Your correct, he can't look you in the eye because he is looking the teleprompter in the EYE. Also, the lair can't look you in the eye either.
I don't suppose that Steve's comment that Romney is "less likable, more awkward, and harder to relate to on a personal level" would have anything to do with the observable fact that MSNBC has become an unofficial arm of the Democratic Party, not unbiased news organization.
See above
Watching this Ad, it strikes me that Barry almost wants us to forget that he IS the President.
Its not that hard, soon it will be over
It's just you. Or your computer.
Excellent message! @Day, I thought he was looking me in the eye.
Why off-center - to the right?
C,mon you guys. He's looking at your friend sitting next to you, and back to you occasionally. Just what would happen in any three way conversation. You could hardly compare it to Bachmanns starry eyed talk. But, Obama still has a long way to go to beat Jeff Barth, who can walk and talk and think at the same time.
When I watch Mitt Romney I can see him eyeing my retirement funds.
When I watch
Mitt RomneyObama I can see him eyeing my retirement funds: raising capital gains, depressing stock values (you do have a 401k) and going after what savings you do have to pay for those who believe, like Obama, that your money truly belongs to the government and he only allows you to have what you need.August 3, 2012, Sam Webb, chairman of the Communist Party USA, threw his support behind Obama’s re-election bid.
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." Lenin
Enjoy
Sure, that's why the Dow Jones has gone from 6500 at the end of Bush's presidency to almost 13000. How does that affect your portfolio or your 401k? How is that depressing stock values? Yes, the tax breaks given to the ultra-rich will expire and not soon enough.
Do you honestly think that Sam Webb (whoever he is), has any kind of clout outside of the closet he and his Party meet in? Not like the Koch's, Sam Adelson, and all the other right wing nutjobs who make Hitler look like a liberal.
Enjoy.
The Zimbabwean stock market increased eight fold in 2005 in Zim dollars. A doubling of the stock market in depreciated dollars is not real growth. QE 3 will mean a rise in markets again but it isn't real value. This guy talking about the middle class is like Colonel Sanders talking nice to the chickens.
Meanwhile, a headline on my local paper this morning reads "Romney trusted more on economy than Obama."
Really?!? American's trust GORDON Freakin' GECKO more than Obama on the economy?
No amount of excellent political adds, arguments and facts can overcome the vast ignorance of the American electorate. 30+ years of corporate brainwashing has been successful beyond the elite's wildest dreams.
I think the Obama folks have to make the public understand that the reason things aren't improving are because of the Boehner and McConnell obstruction. Things were improving and then the GOTea and an impotent Boehner happened in 2011.
I think the public will never understand and many of them/us don't vote with our brain anyway. Many people simply go with the political party they were raised to like, and the fact that Obama is consistently reasonable and mostly forthright may have little effect. Our best hope is that Romney continues to reveal himself as the disingenuous rich kid that he is, and that enough voters will be unenthusiastic about him that they won't vote at all. I do wish the populace were not so easily swayed by nonsense but that is just wishing.
Largest voting block is no longer either party so talk all you want. My brother & sister Indenpendent voters will call this one and the ones from here on out!
This is the only thing that concerns me, not Romney or any policy that he is offering. I don't think he can win on anything else but voter ignorance and apathy.
He was a successful businessman therefore in people's minds he must be better on the economy.
"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
Meaning voter ignorance and apathy in the D column. Republicans, independents and even some heretical D's are ready and very enthusiastic about throwing out "he who is not to be named" and the last of the congressional socialists who bent or ignored the rules and comity of the legislative branch in order to support a loner president. Which reminds me of swept under the rug (or bus, depending on your metaphorical fancies) and disinfected Rev Jeremiah Wright. Or Bill Ayers. Why would anyone trust a "friend" like 44 if he is so willing to disavow the people who helped him form his national/world view.
Brilliant! Simple. Sincere. Easy to understand, even for the dumbest potential voter.
I feel certain that this is exactly the group of voters this ad is targeting.
You gotta give the Obama election team credit. They are also pretty good at slogans or as I call them "brand names":
- Hope and Change
- Foward
- The Choice
A very good marketing team. The best in a while.
As for the comments on the voters - yes they are pretty dumb in general. That's why millions are spent on silly things like LAWN SIGNS. Really? A lawn sign or a bumper sticker or a negative saying your opponent hates puppies and that will "sway" the average voters choice? Funny and sad.
Well, I thought it would take them a little longer to get to this part of the campaign. This IS the Big One. People need to understand that all the Republicans have to run on are the same old 30+ years of failed conservative ideas and policies that resulted in the worst inequality since the Great Depression, the worst inequality of political access since The Gilded Age, and the worldwide Great Recession. This is what Ronald Reagan brought to America and the world. And this is where it stops or destroys us. When you consider this hatred of government has brought the world so low that it has brought on people so unethical and immoral enough to deny climate science for the benefit of the he-man fossil fuel pollutocrats, it really is that dire. Then when you consider these same ideas and policies have as their ultimate goal to kill Social Security, Medicare, the EPA, ... so that even greater wealth can flow from lower to higher, it just boggles the mind.
This is really the Big One. I sure hope Americans get it right because the social policy destruction Republicans will gleefully take part in for two years will take (2) generations to remedy, and the climate destruction won't be amenable to solution.
(However, they need to continue tearing Romney a new one. There has never been a more dishonorable man to ever run for President, and people need to understand just how dishonorable this lyin's sack of shhit is.)
What lies?????? Think you have a problem
You must not be paying very good attention:
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/20/12859512-chronicling-mitts-mendacity-vol-xxvi
You can follow links for evidence, and you can follow links at the bottom for 6 months worth of the Lyin' Sack of Mitt's greatest hits.
Are you kidding me Rachael Maddow. She doesn't even pretend to be anything but a partisan hack. in the real world Nobama is losing faith and support of American.
Today, USA Today/Gallup released a poll of adults which found that, by more than 2-1, 63%-29%, voters felt Romney's tenure at Bain would cause him to make good decisions about turning around the economy and creating jobs. 61% of adults felt that government was doing too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses. The poll also found that Romney was viewed as better able to control government spending.
You such a desperate lying loser. The American people only need pay attention to see the criminal organization of democrats fiend for power and tax payer dollars. They do not exist to serve the American people, they exist off the American people.
LOL, You link to the Maddowblog? HA HA HA! No wonder you are an idiot.
Disgustedwithitall, I could not disagree more with your ideaology and lack of insight into the problems. Take money from those who strive, work, earn, hire, inspire and hand that wealth to people who do none of these things. simple question why? This is what happens when governance comes from an idea rather than conditions on the ground. How do you explain the rich energy companies being handed billions of dollars and then going bankrupt! The banks which are being villianized at least have paid back loans with interest. (I did not think that would happen) The poorest in this country is rich compared to most of the world and has the same opportunities as the wealthiest and this is proved everyday in this country. The ideas of the left have been implemented for the past four years and have not brought any kind of real success to this country. Please keep blamming a Reagan who brought this country out of a economic mess left by Carter and you did not hear him complain about how Carter created his mess. He rolled his sleeves up worked hard on his policies and brough dignity back to the military, won the cold war, and brought us out an economic funk in his first 4 four years. What has Obama done with his years in office? I believe it is time to give someone else an opportunity, Obama lost his trying to repay his friends and support those who refuse to support themselves.
NPR ran a quote referring to sequestration and cuts to the Pentagon this morning from President Obama's speech to the VFW yesterday: "There are a number of Republicans in Congress, who don't want you to know that most of them voted for these cuts. Now they're trying to wriggle out of what they agreed to do. Instead of making tough choices to reduce the deficit, they would rather protect tax cuts for some of the wealthiest Americans EVEN if it risks big cuts in our military."
At least he is finally going after the Republicans in Congress, and at least it is being reported on NPR. Now to tie up those Republicans in Congress with their presidential nominee.....
And if you re-elect him, the government to whom you owe all, just may allow you to try to succeed.
Unfortunately, whenever I see Obama after the Aurora tragedy, I can't help recalling those posters that conflated his image with that of Batman's Joker. I believe that the artist subtitled then "Socialism."
LOL! 3 1/2 years of Obama and we have the Worst UNEMPLOYMENT since the Great Depression. The most DEBT in the history of the world with nothing to show for it except Solyndra. A record number of people on foodstamps and disability, and and increase in the percentage of people in poverty to a level we haven't seen since 1965. Obama has failed! Obama's Presidency has failed! So the Choice is between the UNEMPLOYMENT and DEBT of Obama, and Growth and Jobs with Governor Romney? Funny how Obama doesn't put it that way! LOL!
President Obama- 4.2Billion jobs created in the last 3 1/2 years against unrelenting Republican opposition. Climbing out of the worst Recession (caused by the Bush administration). Remember Cheney saying "deficits don't matter"? Deficits under Obama are declining as a share of GDP.
Why are there more people on food stamps? The Bush caused recession threw a lot of people out of work, and there are still 4 people for every job. People who work end up not needing food stamps, and they pay taxes and they consume. Too bad the Republican obstructionists in the House and Senate don't understand that.
The Boehner economy of 2012 is a scandal and is what the country gets with a GOTea House obstructing every attempt to solve the problems 30+ years of failed conservative ideas and policies have caused. Just like Boehner and McConnell wanted it. Republican obstruction at funding the public sector is costing 2 percentage points in employment. It's a scandal that's too huge to fathom in terms of human misery.
Boehner's obstruction => Boehner's economy and unemployment of 2012.
@rwsgate: 4.2 BILLION jobs??? Interesting, when the total population of the country is about 300 Million. Math much? Anyway, assuming you meant "Million," why do you and all of you who keep making this rediculous claim not seem to understand that to keep up with unemployment, America needs to create about 280,000 jobs per MONTH. So, in the time period you mentioned, a total of 11,760,000 jobs SHOULD have been created, leaving us, according to your "math," about 7.5 million jobs short. Stop this total BS claim of how the great Obama has saved our economy and created millions of jobs when it has actually presided over the overall loss of millions more from where we should be. And, don't trot out the tired mantra of, "well, if Obama hadn't done what he did, we would have lost even MORE jobs," because that dog won't hunt either.
Until we can free up money for capital investment and loosen regulations to promote and encourage hiring, we will never be able to turn this economy around.
Stupid democrat liars. 30 Years of failed Conservative ideas and policies ? What are you talking about loser? All you do is spew lies. You can't back up your hate speech with facts.
You are nothing but a desperate "dope fiend move". Democrats have no business running this Country. Just look at the City and States they are running into the ground.
Ho-hum.... I'm unimpressed. I'm one of the stupid fools who pay no income taxes who's still thinks that destroying wealthy people will not do me a favor. I work part-time as a handyman after retiring from a college required job who has had a fall off in jobs over the last few years due to the economy. I made a posting like this on another site and you leftists called me a liar for saying I'm a handyman, unconvinced that someone like me would distrust leftists who despise the very people they say they help.
I haven't quite figured leftists out yet. You worship your messiah even though he has screwed up everything he's touched. I think maybe most leftists are more worried about homosexual marriage and stuff like that, stuff that sickens most normal people than actually expanding the economy and creating jobs.
Collecting a couple percentage points more in taxes on income above $250,000 in a year is "destroying wealthy people"?
Yeah, I think I'm getting a sense for why people did not believe you were a handyman.
This is one of the lamest political ads EVER. And the "choice" the dumb**s offers is more of the same. Same tax-and-spend, same funneling of millions of taxpayers money to cronies and political contributors to his campaign, same malaise, same economic disaster.
Same shifty-eyed, "you bitter clingers are too dumb to get my brilliance" delivery.
Why is he looking off center, as if over the viewers' shoulder? He is reading a bloody teleprompter!!! And he still manages to come off a loser.
What is it with you idiots and teleprompters? Still got Sarah Palin on your brain? Teleprompters have been use by every president over the last 50 years, including your wondrous Ronald Raygun, and both Bush's. I guess Sarah is the only one who still thinks you can write a whole speech on the palm of your hand. Teleprompters are just modern day note cards. Do you still ride a buggy, or do you own a car? Science advances and the tools change. Live with it.
No president ever was as lost for words, content or grammar as Obamadolt when the teleprompter goes off.
Any proof for that? Or just more Fox noise?
You guys crack me up. Calling Gov. Romney the most dishonest, Gordan Gecko (sp) etc. and supporting President Obama. I dont care if a guy has an R or D behind his name, my 1st criteria is that he is honest and has ethics.
Sorry, but I have not seen that in President Obama.
He has continued on the liberty invasive "Patriot" Act. He has continued and expanded the Bush Police state policies. He has protected bankers, investors and others (protected their investment) from the Govt created via Sallie Mae / Banker enabled 2008 Housing over-value fiasco.
He is NOT for the little man in any way. He has an Atty Gen who has next to no interest in applying the law of the land equally. THAT is an issue.
Do we want a Commander in Chief that says, oh I agree w/ you, I WILL apply the law. Oh, I dont agree w/ you, I wont apply the law to you (GM bankruptcy, Black Panther intimidation in 2008, Fast n Furios).
Sorry, I am not a fan of Romney, but I really dont see how he could be more dishonest than President Obama.
Obama wasn't President in 2008. He inherited the fiasco of the housing crisis, but it didn't start on his watch. The Patriot Act was passed under Bush, and Obama can't just void it without going through Congress (you know how that works, don't you?). You called it the "Bush Police state policies" and you were right. I have seen very little to show he is not for "the little man". Quite the contrary, he has proven over and over again that that is where his focus lies.
And that Black Panther intimidation in 2008 (2008 again)? Three black guys at a primarily black voting place, who were run off without incident. Can you get any more pathetic than that? Fast and Furious (read the Vanity Fair magazine piece to learn more) started by the Bush administration.
Really, can't you do a little research first?
You have a choice to make: Will America be better with a return to the 30+ years of failed conservative ideas and policies that resulted in suffocating inequality not seen since the Great Depression, stifling inequality in political access not seen since the Gilded Age, and a worldwide Great Recession or will it be better off trying to move the country and the world in a direction that is opposite that. Obama can't have solved all those problems in 3.5 years. It's going to take more time.
What is brilliant? It's the same message we've had for over three years....
"Give me your money so I can give it to my friends and supporters"
I don't recall that. Can you give us the exact quotes and some links. Thanks in advance.
At least Gordon Geccho had some understanding of how the economy works
No, he didn't.
Trickle down economics vs. Obama's trickle up poverty and food stamp dependency....hmmm, give me the trickle down!
You'll never get the trickle down. Already been tried and failed. The top 1% don't need to spend their tax breaks, but the bottom 50% do, which means the money flows back into the economy. Ever take an economics course? Highly recommend that you do, so you understand whereof you speak.
Supply-side economics has been debunked empirically and theoretically. And it's responsible for our monstrous deficits and debt. You'd think fiscal conservatives would have admitted that by now. Of course, that's not their objective. Their objective is to kill Social Security and Medicare.
Blue State - What is your alternative to food stamps and unemployment? Get a job? That's the right's typical solution, but that's exactly why there is poverty, and a need for food stamps and unemployment. No jobs. And the Republicans have fought every attempt by the Democrats to create jobs.
Republican solution? Let 'em starve. Are there no poorhouses? And when you've backed the poor and the hungry and the hopeless into a corner, don't be surprised if they come for your throat when nothing is left to them. Get between food and my children and I'll feed your miserable carcass to them (poor food that it may be).
If the previous comment offended you, I won't be offering any Republican insincere apologies. Cut off food and shelter, take away the means to live, and you are screwing with my life. In which case, you'd better find a bunker and lock yourself in.
Yes, it is an excellent, factual and honest ad.
Companies hire more people when the demand for their services/products increases, and that demand typically comes from the huge middle class.
Companies do not hire more people because their CEO's have more take home pay.
Attorneys do not hire more people because they have more take home pay, but when there is increased demand for their services. Etc., etc.
Really? That is a new, seminal ad in this campaign? It is a retarded regurgitation of the same rhetoric he has been spewing his entire campaign. It is rife with blatant lies about his own record, Mr. Romney's stated goals and how the economy tanked in the first place.
He uses a deft touch to criticize Mr Romney? What? Just because he is looking at the camara and speaking softly doesn't change the fact that he is attacking his opponent. Using lies that have been refuted over and over again.
And the author's comments regarding this are blatant cheerleading. Other than the level of detail there is no difference between Steve Benen's remarks and those of every other obama worshipper on this page.
And he doesn't say a single thing about what he plans to do. "Strengthen the middle class?" How does that jibe with the massive debt he has placed on them? Or the massive tax increases he has enacted and have set up to be enacted year after year to pay for his entitlement expansion? Invest in education, manufacturing and homegrown american energy (holy crap that is a stupid phrase)? he has already done those things, they gave us a massive bailout of GM which then followed Mr. Romney's advice and declared bankruptcy so they wouldn't have to pay back the taxpayers (hmmm the TARP money all got paid back, with interest), a huge increase in the power of one of the most corrupt unions in the country, the teacher's union, and many many stories like Solyndra, that took $500 million in taxpayer money even when they knew they were going out of business and then vanished with it like a fart in the wind.
So this ad is doing a good job of demonstrating the choice we have. More of this corrupt self serving socialist giving our hard earned money to his supporters, or someone that has been wildly successful at everything he has tried?
I don't think it takes Einstein to figure that one out.
You scared?
What massive tax increases? Citation please. He is simply letting the taxes revert to their 2001 levels, exactly as the Republicans demanded to get the tax cut in the first place.
The bailout saved GM, Chrysler and Ford (even though they didn't get government help). TARP never paid off all their loans, but GM did. Romney called for GM bankruptcy, but nobody had the money to pick up the pieces except the US government?
Solyndra's loans were approved under the Bush administration. Just Google it and find out. The teacher's union "one of the most corrupt"? Dear God, you are delusional. Arguing with you or any of the other right wingers on here is like pissing into the wind. Just a bunch of Foxbots who gave up thinking for themselves a long time ago.
CBO just stated that 4 billion in additional taxes will be paid for ACA by businesses. Who pays the taxes?? Businessws or do they pass them on to consumers?? By the way, the DOE grant program was started under Bush, whose DOE tunred down Solyndra and in fact didn't give any money out at all. It only took a Bundler to get involved and Chu went ahead under Obama and awarded the grant money to Solyndra who quite promptly squandered the money on a state of the art building that lies vacant in CA, guess they were losing money on each solar panel but were trying to make it up in volume....
I will give you the same citations that you and obama use.
The question is am I going to have to pay more tax because of obama or not? My near term tax bill will go up, the cost of everything I pay for will go up and in the long run the tax increases to pay for this socialism will be massive.
You need to quit drinking the kool aid. GM paid back a miniscule amount. Through an accounting trick and with the collusion of the obama administration they made the claim they had paid it back. We are still out well over 40 billion.
Either way, the fact is that the Auto bailout was a miserable failure. The money barely slowed down the disintegration of GM. The thing that saved the auto industry was bankruptcy. Exactly what Mr. Romney said. They followed his plan to the letter.
And once more the TARP money has been paid back on time and with interest. Most of the major banks were trying to pay it back early and the government refused to take it.
The Solyndra lie you told has been addressed. And if you don't think the teacher's union is corrupt then you don't know anything about the current state of education in our country or how it got that way.
And you are right, trying to argue with right wingers using the same lies and hallucinations that all of you obama jock sniffers have been spouting for years is like pissing into the wind. You are just going to end up smelling like your own urine with the rest of us laughing at you.
What citations, Brian? Where are they? TARP has never been paid back, just a lot of it written off. If GM was not successful in coming back, why is Romney now trying to claim it was all his idea? Solyndra was completely approved, just not funded as Bush's reign came to an end. Putting money into Solyndra was no different than the subsidies we give to coal or nuclear. Two alternative energy companies failed, but fourteen were successful.
How are the teacher unions corrupt? What a stupid statement. How long are you going to keep buying the FOX crap and think for yourself? Do you have Jimmy Hoffa's in the teachers union? Is there massive fraud? Why haven't any of these "corrupt" unions been brought to trial? Name anyone in the teacher's union who has been charged with corruption. >crickets<
You people remind me of stalkers. Nothing, absolutely nothing, will convince you that they really don't love you. What a pathetic bunch of losers.
RW you need to work on your reading comprehension. And you need to get your facts straight.
To say that TARP has not been paid back is a blatant lie. But of course you can offer no citation, just some crap you either made up or heard from the person that made it up.
I said the auto bailout was a miserable failure. GMs success is because they went through the bankruptcy process AFTER the bailout failed. If they had followed Mr. Romney's advice from the start they would have gone through the process much sooner and saved the tax payers some $40 billion. But you don't care about that, it is Other People's Money and screw them.
The facts are that obama paid the cash to Solyndra, obama's friends made money off of Solyndra even though they went out of business and stiffed the taxpayers. That has happened over and over during the obama administrations reign of tyranny.
You are actually defending the teacher's union? Are you serious? Does nothing at all ever sink in with you socialists? There has been report after report of corrupt practices but you turn a blind eye and stick your fingers in your ears and sing Imagine at the top of your voice.
You have no citable reply. You have no logical path to support your views. You have the sinking feeling that every reasonable and sane person in the world understands things that you don't and realized just how silly you are. So you turn to name calling.
Someone like you calling me a loser and a stalker is like a ten year old calling me a loser and a stalker when I find out what she has been doing wrong and send her to her room. It lets me know I am doing the right thing and if I keep it up the world will be better for it. At least the ten year old will probably grow out of her immaturity.
The Choice? Seems like it should be "The Choice Part Dieu"! All that was promised 4 years ago, most of it undelivered or so poorly done it is a detraction (not a distraction). Much harder to sell (even if he actually looks us in the eye) trust that all can be fixed with just a little help from the rich. Though it is unlikely that we would actually collect half of the $70 billion in new taxes on the rich (all other attempts here and abroad have seen a net decrease in collections), but given our $1 trillion dollar average over-draft per year, it's hard to see how this 'invests' in anything and still lowers our deficits in any meaningful way.
This feels more like a choice between ripping off the bandage quickly or slowly, and underneath the wound is untreated.
Fox-educated, huh? Deficits are not the most pressing problem, now.
The Boehner economy of 2012 is a scandal and is what the country gets with a GOTea House obstructing every attempt to solve the problems 30+ years of failed conservative ideas and policies have caused. Just like Boehner and McConnell wanted it. Republican obstruction at funding the public sector is costing 2 percentage points in employment. It's a scandal that's too huge to fathom in terms of human misery.
Let me see.... Didn't the democrats control the house since 2006 through 2010.... weren't the democrats involved with Freddie and Fannie (Barney Frank telling everyone they were sound before the bubble and the Countrywide loans to freinds and family)... Didn't Pres. Obama have a democrats controlling the house and senate for two years... in which time he could have made the bush tax cuts illegal (cloture vote only needs 51 in senate, you know how they passed that awesome healthcare reform bill which only passed becuase of cloture) or he could have passed a budget (you know to reduce the deficit in half), or address immigration, gloabal warming, keysotne pipeline, focused like a lazer beam on jobs etc.... So now you easily blame everything on 1.5 years of republican dominated house of representatives when the dems still hold the white house and the senate?? Really??
No, cloture votes are designed to stop filibusters. A cloture vote requires 60 votes, never 51. ACA only passed because of cloture? Do you even understand what cloture is? Didn't think so. Cloture requires the gathering of 60 votes (because of the filibuster) to get the legislation out of committee and onto the floor to have it voted on. Once the bill is on the floor, it only requires 51 votes to pass.
Obama has been stymied by the Republicans for all but four months of his administration by the obstructionist tactics in the House and the Senate. Republicans won't address global warming (while the water rises around them), and care nothing about jobs. Obama has proposed several ideas to create jobs, like the American Jobs Act last year, which didn't get one single Republican vote. The Keystone Pipeline. It would produce about 5000 temporary jobs, filled mostly by Canadians, and only about 40-50 permanent jobs in the US. At the same time, it would put at risk the vast underground aquifers under Oklahoma and Nebraska, which fought against the pipeline. None of the oil coming from Canada would necessarily go to the US market, just to the terminus in Louisiana where it could be shipped somewhere else. Obama refused to fast track the pipeline because environmental studies hadn't been completed and the pipeline represented a risk to the water supplies of two states (both Republican controlled, by the way).
Budgets are proposed by the House, not the President. The House budgets have been so irresponsible (and larded up with Republican amendments) that they couldn't get through the Senate.
By the way, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae don't make loans, they just guarantee them. Irresponsible bankers made the loans, and irresponsible lenders and realtors made decisions and threw caution to the winds. The housing market started to collapse in 2005, long before Obama was on the scene. You know, there's lots of references to all of this if you just look. But don't just close your eyes, stick your fingers in your ears, and shout LA-LA-LA-LA I can't hear you!
"Most Americans EVER in poverty and on food stamps" is the result of six years of "crony socialism."
Political Payoffs = Middle Class Layoffs
The Boehner economy of 2012 is a scandal and is what the country gets with a GOTea House obstructing every attempt to solve the problems 30+ years of failed conservative ideas and policies have caused. Just like Boehner and McConnell wanted it. Republican obstruction at funding the public sector is costing 2 percentage points in employment. It's a scandal that's too huge to fathom in terms of human misery.
I'm afraid you may not like my choice, B.O. Via con Dios.
Congratulations! You're the only person who knows at least three words of Spanish who will vote against him.
clearly no one here knows any economics. when does trickle down economics ever work? its kind of been proven that it divides the classes more. How does supply ever dictate demand? that is basically what you are saying that producing a product will increase sales. which is stupid! Demand is what drives supply. Reagonomics has been proven wrong! Chicago economics is what led to the economic downturn . the lack of market regulation in favour of "perfect" competition (which is not perfect) has ruined America. Most of the commentators on Obama know NOTHING about economics. Handymen stay handymen and dont pretend to be something your not.
What about the Community Reinvestment Act. What about federally backing mortgages so mortgage companies who would normally not loan based on economics loaned to people who knew they couldn't afford it.... Remember when 20% down was rule of thumb... not in 2006... the days of drive by property assessments. Everyone was making a dollar... the banks were lending then selling the notes, the politicians were happy becuase of the lobbiest and the fact that they can preach about the American Dream and people werent complaining when they moved into that big fancy house with the ARM just knowing that the value would appreciate and in four years they would be making a killing...
As far as trickle down.... do you think the middle class is better off now than in 1976?? Just asking... there is enough guilt to go around about what caused the bubble and the current economic turn down.. but what you can not deny is that in whole we are better off than we were in 1976...
Except for wondering why you picked 1976 as a comparitive date, I would agree with most of your comment. Totally out of control, realtors offering unbelievable deals to people who shouldn't have been buying, and didn't have the income flow. Buyer flipping houses as prices climbed, with ten buyers making offers as soon as a house came on the market. People refinancing and taking money out of their home because the gravy train would never end.
1976. Gerald Ford was President, with rising inflation caused by the price freeze instituted by the Nixon administration in 1974. Remember the WIN (Whip Inflation Now) buttons? The OPEC oil embargo of 1973 had caused gas prices to skyrocket, and oil reached the all time high of $6 a barrel. High oil prices caused an increase in the cost of everything that need oil (fertilizers, plastics, fuel, grains for feed). The cost of feeding cattle became so high that ranchers were selling off their herds, and meatpackers went out of business. Nixon imposed a freeze on price increases, which only affected the retail end. Didn't stop the costs of doing business from rising. When the freeze was removed, pent up demand caused an explosion in prices and inflation. All history. Trickle down economics came in under Reagan, in the early 1980's, with David Stockton as his economic guru. Even Stockton has since admitted he was wrong.
As far as being better off, I'd say that was relative. You could get a decent job in 1976 without a problem. Business loans were readily available. Housing was affordable, although there was a housing bubble in 1977. None of that is true today. I think that there was a lot more opportunity in 1976, so maybe it was better then.
Obama talks about the Middle class needing help. Problem is that the Middle class are the ones he has hurt the most in the past four years, I know I'm one!!! As a middle class independent voter he has lost my vote and will not get it back. His Ad my choice he's gone!
Wrong. Things were improving BECAUSE of the Administration's policies. That is, until the GOTea took over in 2011. Then the obstruction started.
The Boehner economy of 2012 is a scandal and is what the country gets with a GOTea House obstructing every attempt to solve the problems 30+ years of failed conservative ideas and policies have caused. Just like Boehner and McConnell wanted it. Republican obstruction at funding the public sector is costing 2 percentage points in employment. It's a scandal that's too huge to fathom in terms of human misery.
Actually, obstruction began in 2009, when Mitch McConnell said, on record, that the Republican Party's one goal was to make Obama a one-term President. He also vowed to obstruct any and all legislation that would give Obama any victories at all. The Senate, with the filibuster, held the fort for the first two years, casting over 170 filibusters, which caused the government to screech to a halt. In 2011 the House crazies took over and the Senators could rest, knowing they'd done their job well.
John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, American traitors.