Democrats Try to Rename Their Failure

September 21, 2011

As Democrats Double Down on the Same Failed Policies, Obama & Co. Bet They Can Trick Voters By Renaming Some of Their Greatest Duds

President Obama and the Democrats’ latest push for more stimulus spending was notable for its omission of the words “stimulus” and “green jobs”—terms that are practically a hallmark of the Obama presidency.

The change is no coincidence. Democrats are admitting that both their “stimulus” and Obama’s “green jobs” schemes have been tarnished by failure—the failure to reduce sky-high unemployment and the ongoing investigations into now-bankrupt Solyndra. Now Democrats seem to think that they can trick Americans into supporting more of their failed policies simply by renaming them.

It’s telling that the only people satisfied with Obama’s doubling down on failed policies are his allies on the radical left who reacted with “almost incredulous joy” to his recent deficit speech. As the economy limps on the verge of a recession and Democrats double down on more of the same failed policies, is it any wonder that the president’s approval ratings continue to hover at record lows?

BACKGROUND

“GREEN JOBS” ARE “A HALLMARK OF OBAMA’S PRESIDENCY,” ALLOWING HIM TO TOUT THE “SUCCESS” OF HIS STIMULUS: “Tours of clean-technology companies have been a hallmark of Obama’s presidency, giving him a chance to tout green jobs, the success of his administration’s stimulus program and the promise of a new era of American leadership.” (Bob King, “Solyndra Vexes Obama Green Agenda,” Politico, 9/18/2011)

BY THE NUMBERS:

OBAMA JOBS RE-DO SPEECH USED THE WORD “STIMULUS” ZERO TIMES. (“Address by the President to a Joint Session of Congress,” The White House, 9/8/2011)

OBAMA LAST USED THE WORD “STIMULUS” IN A SPEECH TWO MONTHS AGO. (“Speeches and Remarks,” The White House, Accessed 9/20/2011)

“GREEN JOBS” APPEARS ZERO TIMES. (“Address by the President to a Joint Session of Congress,” The White House, 9/8/2011)

“CLEAN ENERGY” APPEARS ZERO TIMES. (“Address by the President to a Joint Session of Congress,” The White House, 9/8/2011)

ZERO NET JOBS CREATED BY THE FIRST STIMULUS IN AUGUST 2011. (Lyneka Little and Bill McGuire, “U.S. Employers Added No New Jobs in August,” ABC News, 9/2/2011)

“GREEN JOBS” DISAPPEAR:

“OBAMA AVOID ‘GREEN JOBS’ TALK, SKIRTS POLITICAL QUAGMIRES”: “President Barack Obama’s jobs speech on Thursday night was infused with the passion that many who campaigned for him in 2008 had been waiting to hear again. Yet despite his combative rhetoric, the president largely avoided the ‘green jobs’ talk formerly at the center of his economic message.” (Lucia Graves, “Obama Avoids ‘Green Jobs’ Talk, Skirts Political Quagmires,” The Huffington Post, 9/9/2011)

BUT “GREEN JOBS IN OBAMA’S SPEECH IF YOU DIG FOR THEM”: “Green jobs, green jobs, green jobs – where were the green jobs in the Obama jobs plan speech delivered to Congress last night? A glance at the plethora of material put out by the White House doesn’t immediately suggest green jobs, which the President glazed over last night, were on his agenda. If you look, and listen, closely though, you do see some green poking out of the $447 billion American Jobs Act.” (Nino Marchetti, “Green Jobs in Obama’s Speech if You Dig for Them,” Reuters, 9/12/2011)

SOLYNDRA GAVE “THAT PHRASE A BIT OF A BLACK EYE,” BUT “THE GREEN JOBS ARE [STILL] THERE IN HIS JOBS PACKAGE”: “So why didn’t he call them green jobs specifically? Solyndra, wacky green jobs reporting in the mainstream media and other factors give that phrase a bit of a black eye at the moment to some. The green jobs are there in his jobs package, however, and now Congress takes up the larger mantle of whether it wants to pay the President’s economic price for this jobs plan.” (Nino Marchetti, “Green Jobs in Obama’s Speech if You Dig for Them,” Reuters, 9/12/2011)

RENAMING THE SON OF “STIMULUS”:

PELOSI TRYING TO RENAME STIMULUS: “Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Democrats have dropped the word ‘stimulus’ from their vocabulary.” (Mike Lillis, “Pelosi Drops the Word ‘Stimulus’,” The Hill
, 9/6/2011)
OBAMA’S “NEW AND IMPROVED” JOB PLAN “COULD AMOUNT TO A SIGNIFICANT STIMULUS OF BETWEEN $300 BILLION AND $400 BILLION… BUT [OBAMA] WON’T USE THE WORD”: “So the president’s new and improved plan is likely to consist of a set of what he hopes will be seen as moderate, common-sense assists to the economy. These could amount to a significant stimulus of between $300 billion and $400 billion over the coming year, which is more than 2% of gross domestic product. But he won’t use the word.” (David Wessel, “Obama Tries to Rewrite Narrative on Jobs,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/7/2011)

FORMER WH ECONOMIST: MORE STIMULUS, BUT “YOU WON’T HEAR THE S WORD”: “‘You won’t hear the word ‘stimulus’ — the ‘s word’ — because that just is politically unappealing right now,’ Jared Bernstein, who left his post as Vice President Joe Biden’s top economist in June, told us on ABC’s ‘Top Line’ today. ‘But you will hear targeted measures, which I think is actually a more apt description of what I think the president will talk about.’” (Rick Klein, “Obama to Seek Stimulus Funds—But ‘You Won’t Hear the S Word’,” ABC News’ The Note Blog, 8/31/2011)

WEST WING CONTEMPLATED RESHUFFLING THE BUREAUCRACY, CREATING A NEW “DEPARTMENT OF JOBS”: “The administration may also merge the Department of Commerce, the Office of the United States Trade Representative and some economic divisions at the State Department into a new agency, administration officials said. Possible names include the Department of Jobs or the Department of Competitiveness.” (Binyamin Applebaum and Helene Cooper, “White House Debates Fight on Economy,” The New York Times, 8/14/2011)

LIBERALS CHEER OBAMA “REBRANDING”:

“OBAMA AND THE LEFT BACK IN SYNC” AFTER LATEST STIMULUS/DEFICIT SPEECHES, LIBERALS REACT WITH “ALMOST INCREDULOUS JOY”: “President Barack Obama finally gave his liberal critics exactly what they wanted.

“His tough opening bid on deficit reduction and his feisty, defiant speech from the White House Monday were greeted with almost incredulous joy by progressives who have urged Obama to take this kind of hard line with Republicans since the day he was elected.” (Carrie Budoff Brown and Ben Smith, “Obama and the Left Back in Sync,” Politico, 9/19/2011)

OBAMA IN A STATE OF DENIAL: THINKS HIS POLICIES DIDN’T FAIL, IT’S THE ECONOMY’S FAULT IT FAILED TO RESPOND TO THEM… WE’RE CONFUSED, TOO: “Obama has mused in several private settings that if he loses re-election, it won’t be because a Republican beat him: It will be because the economy was impervious to his attempts to revive it.” (Marc Ambinder, “One Small Step for Jobs, One Big Target for Republicans,” National Journal, 9/7/2011)

RECESSION ODDS RISE:

WSJ SURVEY OF ECONOMISTS: ODDS OF A RECESSION “MORE LIKELY,” NEARING ONE-IN-THREE: “Economists see a one in three chance the U.S. will slip into recession over the next twelve months and doubt any steps the Federal Reserve might take at its meeting next week can change that.” (Phil Izzo, “Economists Say That U.S. Recession Looks More Likely,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/16/2011)

THE NEW YORK TIMES: ODDS OF A RECESSION AT 50 PERCENT? “If history is a guide, the odds that the American economy is falling into a double-dip recession have risen sharply in recent weeks and may even have reached 50 percent.” (David Leonhardt, “Rising Fears of Recession,” The New York Times, 9/7/2011)

HOW LOW CAN HE GO? OBAMA’S APPROVAL CONTINUES TO SINK:

MCCLATCHY/MARIST POLL: OBAMA HITS NEW LOW OF 39% APPROVAL, 52% DISAPPROVAL: (“39% Approval for Obama, Lowest of Presidency,” Marist Poll, 9/20/2011)

69% OF INDYS DISAPPROVE OF OBAMA ON EOCNOMY: (“39% Approval for Obama, Lowest of Presidency,” Marist Poll, 9/20/2011)

GALLUP DAILY TRACKING: OBAMA STUCK AT 40%: (“Gallup Daily: Obama Job Approval,” Gallup, Accessed 9/20/2011)

CBS/NEW YORK TIMES: OBAMA AT NEW LOW OF 43% APPROVAL, 50% DISAPPROVAL. (“Grim Views of the Economy, the President and Congress,” CBS News/New York Times Poll, 9/16/2011)

ONLY 25% SAY OBAMA HAS “MADE PROGRESS IN FIXING THE ECONOMY,” 68% SAY NO; AT 57% DISAPPROVAL ON THE ECONOMY: (“Grim Views of the Economy, the President and Congress,” CBS News/New York Times Poll, 9/16/2011)

OBAMA SINKS TO 48% IN CONNECTICUT: (Daniela Altimari, “Obama’s Job Approval Drops Sharply in Connecticut,” The Hartford Courant, 9/16/2011)
UNDERWATER AT 42% APPROVAL, 55% DISAPPROVAL IN NEVADA; 46% STRONGLY DISAPPROVE, ONLY 18% STRONGLY APPROVE: (Tweet from Jon Ralston, Las Vegas Sun, 9/20/2011)