October 19, 2011
NYC Letter: On The Fail Trail -- All The Right Choices
Day 1,001 of CHOPE
Here, start here. Three hundred thirty-eight days in, Mr. Obama was invited to grade his inchoate presidency.
Q: What grade would you give yourself for this year?Ah um. [Mentally scoring.] Good solid B+.
Q: A B+?
Tuesday, exactly one thousand days in.
We're sitting in a school, what grade would you give yourself?Well, you know I'm not going to give myself a grade.
... I guarantee it's going to be a close election because the economy is not where it wants to be and even though I believe all the choices we've made have been the right ones, we're still going through difficult circumstances.
"...all the choices we've made have been the right ones..."? Yet for all that they remain ungradeable.
On a whole range of these issues, there's going to be a clear choice for the American people to make.
This, you will recall, was Mr. Obama's big campaign argument in 2010.
Mr. Obama,If Republicans want to campaign against what we've done...that is a fight I want to have. (Applause.)
threatening Republicans with himself
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT THE
HOUSE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS RETREAT
WASHINGTON January 14, 2009 (White House)
He lost. [Pause.] Big. He lost on the same "right choices" then that he insists will constitute the clear choice -- the winning choice -- between himself and the Republicans in 2012. [Longer pause.] Mr. Obama appears to be betting the farm on nothing more than "two's a charm". He's certainly not running on results.
A LONG, STEEP DROP FOR
AMERICANS' STANDARD OF LIVING
October 19, 2011 (CSM) - The standard of living for Americans has fallen longer and more steeply over the past three years than at any time since the US government began recording it five decades ago. ... The average individual now has $1,315 less in disposable income than he or she did three years ago at the onset of the Great Recession – even though the recession ended, technically speaking, in mid-2009.
This is not "inherited". This is Mr. Obama's handiwork.
Real median income is down 9.8 percent since the start of the recession through this June, according to Sentier Research in Annapolis, Md., citing census bureau data. Another is falling net worth – think about the value of your home and, if you have one, your retirement portfolio. A third is rising consumer prices, with inflation eroding people's buying power by 3.25 percent since mid-2008.
Not exactly news around here (and this).
(A) One nice thing about the situation I find myself in is that I will be held accountable. I've got four years.
Q: You're going to know quickly how people feel about what's happened.
That's exactly right. And a year from now I think people are going to see that we're starting to make some progress, but there's still going to be some pain out there. If I don't have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one-term proposition.
(B) Q: There's so many people who simply don't think they're better off than they were four years ago. How do you convince them that they are?
Well, I don't think that they're better off than they were four years ago.
Mr. Obama,
(A) providing the prize soundbite of 2012
TODAY INTERVIEW
WASHINGTON February 1, 2009 (RCP/MSNBC)
(B) stating the obvious but forgetting
the recession ended in June of 2009
WASHINGTON October 3, 2011 (ABC News)
It's not done. Ergo. [We work the syllogism.] Remind us, who owns this mess?
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL, 20th),We own the economy.
DNC chair and proud owner of the Obama economy
WASHINGTON June 15, 2011 (Politico)
CHOPE.
No mistakes, just fouls.
Posted by Damian at October 19, 2011 11:45 PM
