Obama's Key to Fixing the U.S. Economy

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Janaury 7, 2012
All Rights Reserved.                                         

                   When President Barack Obama was sworn in January 20, 2009, the economy was in a full freefall.  Major U.S. financial institutions ran out of cash with publicly traded companies and small business shedding jobs in record numbers.  As soon as Chief Justice John Roberts said “congratulations Mr. President,” right wing radio and TV talk shows pinned the U.S. financial breakdown on Obama.  Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan called the U.S. recession the worst since the Great Depression and one of the worst financial meltdowns in U.S. history.  Despite Obama’s post-partisan attempts especially on the economy, the GOP pulled out all the stops to blame the country’s economic woes on the young president.  Conservative radio talk show host Rush Libaugh declared, “it’s Obama’s recession,” giving the GOP the talking points needed to defeat the president next November. 

          GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney must catch-up to real-time on the stump, bashing Obama for being the biggest “jobs killer” of any modern president. Today’s jobs report pulled the rug out from underneath the GOP, indicating the nation added 200,000 private and public sector jobs in December.  Since February 2010, only one year after Obama took office, the nation has added 2.654 million jobs.  Facts are stubborn things:  Romney will have to pivot on calling Obama a “jobs killer” or risk indicting his own credibility, saying anything, no matter how twisted, to get elected.  No matter how dismal the GOP paints the economy to bash Obama, 1.6 million jobs were added to U.S. payrolls in 2011. Falling to 8.5%, the nation’s unemployment rate has been dropping under Obama’s economic policies.  Today’s progress report is bad news for Republicans hoping for more bad economic news.

          Greenspan warned in 2008 that the U.S. economy would take time bouncing back from the worst downturn in 100 years.  “This is a good solid report, and the big message here is that 2011 was much better that 2010,” belying the GOP message that Obama is a “jobs killer.”  While the economy needs about 6 million more jobs to return to 2007-08 levels, adding 2.6 million jobs since 2010 doesn’t jibe with Romney’s stump speeches insisting Obama, not past Republican policies under former President George W. Bush, was responsible for the nation’s economic woes.  All GOP candidates rant-and-rave about Obamacare, slated to cover some 30 million citizens with health insurance.  While the GOP sees the plan a budget-buster, they’re not considering the millions of new jobs needed to expand the health care system to accommodate millions of newly insured U.S. citizens.   

           Expanding the health care system should have positive effect on the jobs market.  Health care alone accounted for 20,000 or 10% of the total jobs created in December.  If Obamacare survives the U.S. Supreme Court next Spring, there’s no telling how many more jobs will be created during the health expansion, expected to explode by 2014.  More doctors, nurses, construction workers, food service workers, administrative personnel, etc., will be needed to accommodate the system.  Whether admitted to or not, the U.S. Treasury will benefit with billions in new tax revenues, reducing today’s whopping budget deficits the old fashioned way, by creating more jobs.  Attempts today by the bipartisan Congressional Deficit Reduction Panel to cut $1 trillion out of the federal budget have largely backfired.  Too much partisan wrangling has left the committee and process paralyzed.

              GOP presidential hopefuls often bash the president for his $787 billion bailout fund signed into law Feb. 17, 2009, designed liked the $670 billion Bush plan, to save the nation’s biggest banks from going broke.  Whatever improvement in today’s economy, it’s because Fed Chairman Bernanke had the wisdom to realize the federal government had a strong role to play in U.S. economic recovery.  Congressional Republicans had no problems signing onto Bush’s bailout but fought Obama’s tooth-and-nail.  Now that the economy’s showing life, the GOP must pivot or face a disingenuous label of playing pure politics at the expense of the economy.  Credit must be given where credit is due.  Obama recent rise in his approval ratings to an aggregate 47.2% reflects positive changes in the economy.  Given the positive economic news, continuing to bash Barack on jobs and the economy can only backfire.

            Republican strategists must pivot quickly about bashing Obama on the economy.  While there may be disagreements on how to add more jobs, an expansion is underway.  While Obama-bashing will continue until the election, if not beyond, the GOP faces serious risks denying reality, especially the 2.654 million jobs added since Feb. 2010.  With the private sector now 83.3% of all U.S. jobs, it’s a tough sell to call Obama a socialist.  It doesn’t help the economy to slash government jobs, throwing more folks into unemployment.  Adding to both private and public sector employment is the best way to add tax dollars to the U.S. Treasury.  GOP plans to “reduce the size and scope of the federal establishment” only add to today’s whopping budget deficits.  Despite today’s historic low tax rates, the GOP wants to continue to slash taxes.  Instead of a “no tax pledge,” the GOP should sign onto growing the economy.

  John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.       

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