Obama Acknowledges Stimulus Failures – Does Bishop Agree?

Washington- The sprint to Election Day has begun and Tim Bishop and his Democrat friends are desperately scrambling to defend their destructive economic agenda on the campaign trail. To make matters even worse for vulnerable Democrats like Bishop, President Obama recently admitted in an interview that he realized too late that “there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects,” confirming once and for all that the stimulus was a policy disaster. After leaving small businesses and hard-working families to suffer from Washington’s egregious miscalculations – how can Bishop possibly defend the failed trillion-dollar stimulus now?

“In an hour-long interview with Times White House correspondent Peter Baker, Mr. Obama predicted that his political rivals will either be chastened by falling short of their electoral goals or burdened with the new responsibility that comes from achieving them.”

“In the magazine article, Mr. Obama reflects on his presidency, admitting that he let himself look too much like ‘the same old tax-and-spend Democrat,’ realized too late that ‘there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects’ and perhaps should have ‘let the Republicans insist on the tax cuts’ in the stimulus.’” (Michael D. Shear, “President Obama Looks Forward — and Back,” New York Times, 10/13/2010)

“By admitting that ‘shovel-ready projects’ don’t exist, President Obama is acknowledging that his failed stimulus was a massive trillion-dollar taxpayer gamble that Tim Bishop will again be forced to defend on the campaign trail,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “The Democrats’ destructive agenda has stopped the economy in its tracks, leading to higher unemployment and placing job-killing regulation and taxes on small businesses. As his party begins to come to grips with the economic damage they have inflicted on American families, Bishop’s chances for re-election are quickly diminishing by the day.”

In addition to the President’s latest admission, Democrats have been forced to explain why their trillion-dollar stimulus has created jobs in foreign countries rather than here in the United States.

“About $92 billion – more than 11 percent – of Mr. Obama’s original $814 billion of stimulus funds were targeted for renewable energy projects when the measure was pushed through Congress in early 2009…The Department of Energy estimated that 82,000 jobs have been created and has acknowledged that as much as 80 percent of some green programs, including $2.3 billion of manufacturing tax credits, went to foreign firms that employed workers primarily in countries including China, South Korea and Spain, rather than in the United States.” (Patrice Hill, “‘Green’ jobs no longer golden in stimulus,” Washington Times, 9/9/10)

Things have gotten so bad for the out-of-touch majority, that the list of endangered Democrats continues to grow with less than 20 days until Election Day.

“Republicans are expanding the battle for the House into districts that Democrats had once considered relatively safe, while Democrats began a strategy of triage on Monday to fortify candidates who they believe stand the best chance of survival.

“As Republicans made new investments in at least 10 races across the country, including two Democratic seats here in eastern Ohio, Democratic leaders took steps to pull out of some races entirely or significantly cut their financial commitment in several districts that the party won in the last two election cycles.” (Jeff Zeleny, “G.O.P. Widens Targets for Picking Up House Seats,” New York Times, 10/11/2010)