Media ignore Obama's accomplishments to claim he has "little to show for '09"
In the weeks approaching President Obama's first State of the Union address, some in the media have claimed that Obama has lacked accomplishments in his first year as president and thus, in the words of Washington Times editor emeritus Wesley Pruden, Obama has "little to show for '09." In fact, Obama's first year in office has been marked by a series of significant achievements, including creating jobs as a result of the economic stimulus, eliminating wasteful spending, increasing government transparency, and expanding federal health insurance programs to cover millions more children.
Media baselessly claim Obama "has little to show" for first year that "amounts to a long parade of rebuffs"
Columnists attack Obama effectiveness. For instance, a January 1 Washington Times column by Pruden is headlined "Obama has little to show for '09." In a January 26 Wall Street Journal column, Bret Stephens asserted that "Mr. Obama's first year in office amounts to a long parade of rebuffs," adding that Obama's "personal salesmanship has failed to overcome the defects of legislation."
Obama had numerous accomplishments in his first year
Passing stimulus, generating jobs. On February 17, 2009, Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus bill into law. In December 2009, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office issued a report estimating that "in the third quarter of calendar year 2009, an additional 600,000 to 1.6 million people were employed in the United States" due to that legislation. According to the White House Council of Economic Advisers, CBO has increased its estimate to 800,000 to 2.4 million additional employed through the fourth quarter of that year. Moreover, a November 20, 2009, New York Times article reported that the "consensus" among "dispassionate analysts" is that "the stimulus package, messy as it is, is working," citing nonpartisan analyses of gross domestic product and total employment figures by several companies specializing in economic forecasting. Further, a January 25 USA Today article stated that, according to its "quarterly survey of 50 economists," "[u]nemployment would have hit 10.8% -- higher than December's 10% rate -- without Obama's $787 billion stimulus program," adding, "The difference would translate into another 1.2 million lost jobs."
Eliminating wasteful spending. Obama was able to achieve some significant cuts to wasteful spending -- most notably, the elimination of the F-22 fighter jet program after he successfully lobbied the Senate to vote to strip out financing for more jets from a defense funding authorization bill. The Washington Times reported on January 14 that Obama won "60 percent of his proposed cuts" and also managed "to get Congress to ax several programs that had bedeviled President George W. Bush for years."
Sotomayor nomination. On May 26, 2009, Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court to replace the retiring Justice David Souter. She was confirmed by the Senate on August 6, 2009, and sworn in August 8, making her the first Hispanic justice, and only the third woman, on the court.
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The first bill President Obama signed into law, on January 29, 2009, was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which expands the rights of workers to sue employers over wage discrimination claims.
SCHIP expansion. On February 5, 2009, Obama signed a bill expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover 4 million more lower-income children.
Public lands bill. On March 30, Obama signed an omnibus public lands bill, which The New York Times reported "allows for 2 million more acres to be declared wilderness... [with] more than 1,000 miles designated as scenic rivers, and adds land for national trails."
Credit card reform. On May 21, 2009, Obama signed into law a bill providing what USA Today called the "most sweeping changes to the credit card industry in 40 years," adding restrictions on interest rate increases and fees and restricting the marketing of credit cards to college students.
Transparency. The Washington Post reported that moves by the Obama administration to improve government transparency "included a ban on lobbyist gifts; restrictions on the hiring of lobbyists; publication of White House visitor logs and other records; and a move to bar lobbyists from serving on advisory boards." A report by Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, and U.S. PIRG stated that: "The cumulative effect of the Administration's actions has been to adopt the strongest and most comprehensive lobbying, ethics and transparency rules and policies ever established by an Administration to govern its own activities."
Tobacco regulation. On June 22, 2009, Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which, for the first time, gave the U.S. Food & Drug Administration the authority to regulate the manufacturing, marketing, and sale of tobacco.
National service. On April 21, 2009, Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which expands the scope of AmeriCorps and provides opportunities for young people and senior citizens to join in service programs.
Stem cell research. On May 9, 2009, Obama signed an executive order easing restrictions on the use of federal money for embryonic stem cell research.
(sarcasm off)
How many jobs did he really create if unemployment went from 8% to 10%. I remember it averaged 5% for the previous eight years.
So, if we use a smaller sample size, 100 people let's say.
92 people were unemployed before Obama got into office.
Had he not pushed the financial stimulus through, then 5 people would have lost their jobs and no one who was unemployed would have gotten a new job, so only 87 people would be employed.
As a result of the financial stimulus package, only 4 people lost their jobs, and 2 people who lost their jobs or were already unemployed found NEW jobs, and so the employed went from 92 to 90, instead of down to 87.
That's how unemployment can go UP while Obama can claim that his help created many new jobs.
This is not rocket science.
If the $787 Million wasn't wasteful spending, but other spending that WAS wasteful was eliminated, that's how one gets credit for reducing wasteful spending. This isn't rocket science either.
Complete and utter hogwash. You are being confused rather than enlightened by the phrase: "created and/or saved." I made a post about this further down the thread.
Now, were you on the front line protesting Cheney's closed door dealings in his Energy commission? I doubt it.
Were you screaming when the 9/11 commission allowed both Bush and Cheney to testify NOT under oath and in secret?
Like I have to ask. the party of "no"
Pres. Obama did "GREAT", and you Republicans just don't want to recognize "GREATNESS". LOL
I heard the Pentagon has "lost" $3 billion.
Possibly another $3-4 billion went to tax cuts for the richest 1%
Another couple billion went to the Iraq War.
And what do we have to show for all this debt? Nothing but death, despair, and financial distress.
Clinton paid the debt down from $5.6T to $5.4T and left a $200B surplus in his last year with a trajectory to paying off the debt within 5-7 years, if his policies were left intact.
Bush came in and threw $1.7T into tax cuts - close to half of which went to the top 1%
Then came 9-11 and the airline bailouts, various crumbs of stimulus, another $1.3T in tax cuts - again weighted heavily toward the GOP's sacred top 1%
The Iraq CPA lost $8.9B+ IN CASH - Waxman described this as 27 planes filled with pallets of $100 bills!
Iraq & Afghan wars cost a couple of $T more...
Bush added $5.6T to the debt - more than doubling it, in 8 years - leaving with a debt of about $11T. (also leaving that $400B omnibus bill to fund the rest of fiscal 2009, and forcing Obama to call for an immediate supplimental to fund the wars - so that's about another $1T)
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The Midnight Review
sorry, Your side never calls the left what they would rather be referred to, Nor does your side you correctly define the left.
Now go whine to your mom to make you a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich.
Maybe for accomplishments you should list:
1. Shows embarassing lack of leadership skills around the world.
2. His campaigning for someone helps get the opponent elected
3. Talks about himself more than anyone else in the world...one recent speech he refered to himself about 132 times I believe??
4. Has no control over his own administration and is allowing terrorists to strength and prepare to attack us on US soil.
2. The Ma democrat loss had more to do wth the candidates than Obama
3. More than Faux Gnus pats itself on the back?
4. More than the numbers who joined up because of Iraq?
You are lying. Lede's post is available for all to read - and here it is again...
So are you trying to prove his point?
And why are you looking for other countries to do more than the US, when you keep stating the US is the greatest country in world?
And spending cuts? When have conservatives been for spending cuts in practice?
The sub-prime mortgage problem was a combination of extremely risky behavior in pursuit of profit and total lack of government oversight. Same reason we had Madhoff's scam. No oversight. Don't tell any Faux Cons, though. They think the free market is the only hope we have. You know, the free market that just required a trillion dollar bailout? The same free market that killed 45,000 Americans who for whatever reason couldn't get health coverage? The same free market that insists shipping middle class jobs overseas and creating joblessness here at home is good for the economy?
Clinton pushes loans in 90s
Bush recommends new regulations in 2003
Watch this
or this
meow
The two biggest players in the mortgage market are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Until they were nationalized recently, they were "government sponsored enterprises." That meant they enjoyed all the profit potential of a private business, but carried none of the risk. How would you run your business differently if you knew the government would bail you out or if Congress bullied you into adopting certain business strategies? Would you be acting greedily - or just rationally?
Government is the problem not the solution.
From 2003 to 2006, the percentage of loans the GSEs made in those riskier categories grew from8 percent to about 20 percent in 2006. This meddling helped drive up housing prices, leading other players to pile fancy new instruments on top of those mortgages, leading to a speculative bubble that was, at root, caused by the actions of two government-sponsored entities unleashed from the normal profit-and-loss checks of the free market.
Fueling this speculative fire was the Federal Reserve, also a government-sponsored organization. The Fed moved interest rates to extraordinarily low levels beginning in 2001. The additional credit it provided artificially lowered the cost of mortgages and dramatically accelerated the housing boom begun in the 1990s.
Did people suddenly get greedy in their pursuit of McMansions, second homes, and flipping homes for easy profit? Yes, but only because abnormally low interest rates made it foolish not to be. This was hardly a failure of free markets or greed. It was the predictable consequence of government distorting the interest rate.
More great news...I just heard a very large company in western PA is currently(right now) walking folks out the door, adding more to the jobless number. I bet they all can't wait to get home tonight and hear Barry talk about all of his wonderful accomplishments.
1.Having his campaign donors joy ride a nucular submarine killing Japanese kids.
2.Spy on China and cave in to them and give up a military plane to them when he gets caught.
3.Take a record surplus and make a record deficit.
4.Give millions to the Taliban after they destroyed ancient Buddhist statues.
5.Allow the worst terrorist attack in WORLD history to occur on our soil and did nothing to prevent 5 more fatal attacks.
The terrorist comment is just plain stupid, I'm not even going to touch that one.
how about that?
American Car Company, you mean Ford? The one car company that did not take Government money, or the one losing money daily that the Government owns?
Housing Crash, again thanks to the democrats whom started it?
What about the 10% Unemployment?
What about the 10 Trillion that he has added to the debt?
Also, Wall Street said the market would jump when Brown won Mass. Nope, the biggest drop since Bush occurred in nthe days following Brown's win and Christie's first day as New Jersey governor.
Why are Republicans always wrong?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/view/
Perhaps you might actually read AND learn something...
This is my most hated debunked talking point EVER. Nobody, and I mean nobody at the political level pressured anyone to make bad loans.
The pressure came from greedy bank CEO's because making loans made them money. It was greed, not political pressure.
They privatized profits and socialized risk.
The CRA had little if anything to do with the housing crisis.
Where are you getting this ridiculous information from anyway? You're either coming up with theories about how EVIL CAPITALISTS are or you're debunking a talking point with a talking point.
Explain how the CRA had little if anything to do with the housing crisis.
So the thing is, they 'could' list his accomplishments without using that terminology, but by referencing Bush (and to a degree Clinton), it puts it in a better perspective.
Like: "Kobe Bryant scores 81 points!!" and then they compare it to Michael Jordan and how he's never scored that much.*
See? Better perspective.
But then again...you already knew this stuff..right?
*NO, I'm not comparing Bush to Michael Jordan..lmao..
So back to the subject, what has accomplished? That is the question, so lets stay on topic.
This is a link to THIS page. Because apparently, you posted without reading it. You must have seen the name Bush, and started your rant, I guess.
Hope the link helps this time around.
I would be happy with a 5.5 right now.
2003 2004 2005 2008
6.0% 5.5% 5.1% 5.8%
Wow, those bad days of Bush. The deficient was lower, people were working and we were not being attacked. Yep, much worse.
1991 6.8
1992 7.5
1993 6.9
19941 6.1
1995 5.6
1996 5.4
19971 4.9
19981 4.5
19991 4.2
Obama signed an executive order? Wow! That is amazing! I can't wait until we are growing humans in labs for organ transplants. What a future to look forward to. But we won't call them humans, we'll have to come up with a less offensive term. I'm sure "fetal tissue" will do just fine. Yeah, let's just call it "tissue".
This isn't an accomplishment it's an abomination.
And I assume you have no problem with federal dollars going to kill the "born" in wars or due to the death penalty.
Spare me any replies, it's obvious where the 2 of us stand on this.
Try reading something in the field of science - and no, I.D. isn't science.
The only reason why your "science" is so mainstream these days is because of monotheism to begin with.
And way to demonstarte your hostility to knowledge with the use of quotes around the word science.
I am against war.
I am personally against the death pentalty, but unless there is a realistic way to re-habilitate these people, do you have a better option to protect the public?
Knowledge is a pretty subjective term, old ben.
Oh I don't know, why not check into every other indusrtialized nation who have abolished the death penalty to see how they do. And interesting, your concern for the fetus vs. that of a person convicted of murder. I mean, you don't want them to be killed but because your scared of your own shadow, just kill 'em. Glad that makes you feel better.
Ummm, you do realize that civilians (innocents) get killed in wars too. Where is your concern for their lives?
Buh bye
Buh Bye.
When the life of the individual soul begins, is gifted, to a fetus is something that only God knows. It borders on the sin of presumption to suggest that you have that answer.
Create an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to invest in peer-reviewed manufacturing processes
Increase minority access to capital
Establish a credit card bill of rights
Expand loan programs for small businesses
Extend and index the 2007 Alternative Minimum Tax patch
Expand the Senior Corps volunteer program
Expand eligibility for State Children's Health Insurance Fund (SCHIP)
Expand funding to train primary care providers and public health practitioners
Increase funding to expand community based prevention programs
Sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Assure that the Veterans Administration budget is prepared as 'must-pass' legislation
Appoint a special adviser to the president on violence against women
Direct military leaders to end war in Iraq
No permanent bases in Iraq
Send two additional brigades to Afghanistan
Strengthen and expand military exchange programs with other countries
Make greater investment in advanced military air technology
Make U.S. military aid to Pakistan conditional on anti-terror efforts
Give a speech at a major Islamic forum in the first 100 days of his administration
Allocate Homeland Security funding according to risk
Create a real National Infrastructure Protection Plan
Increase funding for local emergency planning
Stand down nuclear forces to be reduced under the Moscow Treaty
Appoint a White House Coordinator for Nuclear Security
Initiate a grant and training program for law enforcement to deter cyber crime
Improve relations with Turkey, and its relations with Iraqi Kurds
Launch an international Add Value to Agriculture Initiative (AVTA)
Create a rapid response fund for emerging democracies
Grant Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send money to Cuba
Restore funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne/JAG) program
Establish an Energy Partnership for the Americas
Release presidential records
Require new hires to sign a form affirming their hiring was not due to political affiliation or contributions.
Provide affordable, high-quality child care
Recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession
Encourage water-conservation efforts in the West
Increase funding for national parks and forests
Increase funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund
Encourage farmers to use more renewable energy and be more energy efficient
Pursue a wildfire management plan
Remove more brush, small trees and vegetation that fuel wildfires
More controlled burns to reduce wildfires
Expand access to places to hunt and fish
Push for enactment of Matthew Shepard Act, which expands hate crime law to include sexual orientation and other factors
Restore funding to the EEOC and the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
Reform mandatory minimum sentences
Create a White House Office on Urban Policy
Establish program to convert manufacturing centers into clean technology leaders
Create an artist corps for schools
Champion the importance of arts education
Support increased funding for the NEA
Add another Space Shuttle flight
Use the private sector to improve spaceflight
Partner to enhance the potential of the International Space Station
Use the International Space Station for fundamental biological and physical research
Explore whether International Space Station can operate after 2016
Work toward deploying a global climate change research and monitoring system
Enhance earth mapping
Appoint an assistant to the president for science and technology policy
Establish special crime programs for the New Orleans area
Rebuild schools in New Orleans
Fund a major expansion of AmeriCorps
Create a Social Investment Fund Network
Bolster the military's ability to speak different languages
Appoint the nation's first Chief Technology Officer
Provide grants to early-career researchers
Work to overturn Ledbetter vs. Goodyear
Create a national declassification center
Appoint an American Indian policy adviser
Increase funding for land-grant colleges
Create new criminal penalties for mortgage fraud
Weatherize 1 million homes per year
Invest in all types of alternative energy
Enact tax credit for consumers for plug-in hybrid cars
Ask people and businesses to conserve electricity
Create a 'Green Vet Initiative' to promote environmental jobs for veterans
Create job training programs for clean technologies
Require states to provide incentives for utilities to reduce energy consumption
Support high-speed rail
Invest in public transportation
Equalize tax breaks for driving and public transit
Share enviromental technology with other countries
Double federal spending for research on clean fuels
Provide grants to encourage energy-efficient building codes
Increase funding for the Environmental Protection Agency
Get his daughters a puppy
Appoint at least one Republican to the cabinet
Raise the small business investment expensing limit to $250,000 through the end of 2009
Extend unemployment insurance benefits and temporarily suspend taxes on these benefits
Reverse restrictions on stem cell research
In the months since Congress approved the stimulus, our economy has lost nearly 1.6 million jobs and unemployment has hit nearly 10% Invoke the magic words, however, and -- presto! -- you have the president claiming he has "saved or created" 150,000 jobs. It all makes for a much nicer spin, and helps you forget this is the same team that only a few months ago promised us that passing the stimulus would prevent unemployment from rising over 8%.
You can measure how many jobs are created between two points in time. But there is no way to measure how many jobs are saved. Even if things get much, much worse, the President can say that there would have been 4 million fewer jobs without the stimulus.
Citizens Against Government Waste rates Obama at 10% which they call "Hostile to Taxpayers" in the handling of their money. The facts are on their web site, and there's a lot more in there that cancells out the F22 program.
This is a group of one million members... the largest such group and is nonpartisan and nonprofit setup because of Republican wasteful spending during Nixon's admin.
In Obama's very short history in congress he has a terrible track record of Wasteful Spending and McCain is just the opposite at 100% which they consider a taxpayer 'superhero'.
I personally think he's out to confuse voters into thinking that he is not a wasteful spender in the event the press lets out his spending in congress.
Lets take a look at our taxes now:
McCain (NO change):
Single making 30K - tax $4,500
Single making 50K - tax $12,500
Single making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 60K- tax $9,000
Married making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 125K - tax $31,250
Obama (CHANGE)
Single making 30K - tax $8,400
Single making 50K - tax $14,000
Single making 75K - tax $23,250
Married making 60K - tax $16,800
Married making 75K - tax $21,000
Married making 125K - tax $38,750
Reading the arguments that were put forth to justify the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor of the Second Circuit to the Supreme Court, it appears that all the bad chickens have come home to roost.
The tag line for this appointment says it all. The president wants to choose "a daughter of Puerto Rican parents raised in Bronx public housing projects to become the nation's first Hispanic justice."
Obviously, none of these factors disqualifies anyone for the Supreme Court. But affirmative action standards are a bad way to pick one of the nine most influential jurists in the U.S., whose vast powers can shape virtually every aspect of our current lives.
Lilly Ledbetter collected her pension for 15 years after she was done working. Now, she wants to go back that far to say that she wasn't paid the same as a man?
It's a phrase called a "Statute of Limitations", and these statutes are in place for a reason. How many people are going to have the proverbial winning lottery ticket now? They should have looked before at the paychecks. Now the courts will be backed up with frivilous lawsuits, 10 for evey legit case. Look before you leap, #44! This is madness.
Hopefully, he did read the total cost, which is $410 billion. Which brings us back to the wasteful spending headline.
Also, don't thank Obama or Congress for this. Thank China, Saudi Arabia, and our other foreign creditors.
"Those who have managed their credit well and currently have very good credit card deals will find that card companies are limited in their ability to distinguish between them and those that have credit problems," Edward Yingling, president of the American Bankers Assn., said in a statement.
"The result will be some subsidy from those that manage their credit well to those that have problems, affecting negatively the terms the former will receive."
That's a fancy way of saying the squeeze will be put on good customers to compensate for the banks lending to bad ones.
Failure #7, lets move on here.
Why would a financial institution lend to a credit risk? Because they engage in deceptive practices which bring them a higher profit margin. You are clearly an idiot.
You're joking right? You are really that uninformed? You know nothing about the government intervening in banks to lend to people that don't qualify, causing our current mortgage crisis?
Banks and credit card companies make much more money of people who don't pay their bills on time because of something called interest. You are clearly an idiot.
And CRA did not force banks to loan money people who could not afford to pay it back.
And I wonder who is more likely to default on a mortgage...
The point is a lack of regulation and oversight leads to predatory practices.
Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac were "government sponsored enterprises." That meant they enjoyed all the profit potential of a private business, but carried none of the risk. How would you run your business differently if you knew the government would bail you out or if Congress bullied you into adopting certain business strategies? Would you be acting greedily - or just rationally?
You're an idiot. Go educate yourself.
One of the most absurd things I've read in a long time.
And this all started with regard to your post about credit card lending. And once again- no one forced the banks to make bad loans.
The only thing absurd is your line of thinking.
Most institutions involved with the sub-prime mortgage crisis were not regulated by the federal government.
Perhaps if you viewed this you might take off the blinders. Estimates are that 80% of the toxic loans were by entities NOT REGULATED by the federal government.But I would guess not.
The Federal Reserve (you know what that is, right?), by creating artificially low interest rates, distorts market signals. It makes things seem better than they are. Because of this, people buy houses when they can't afford it.
What are you not getting?
How someone so woefully ignorant can manage to operate a computer.
uk1 -
Then why do most of the countries that sit atop the list of the soundest banking systems around the world have strong government oversight and regulations and those at the bottom don't?
RANKINGS
1. Canada
2. Sweden
3. Luxembourg
4. Australia
5. Denmark
6. Netherlands
7. Belgium
8. New Zealand
9. Ireland
10. Malta 11. Hong Kong
12. Finland
13. Singapore
14. Norway
15. South Africa
16. Switzerland
17. Namibia
18. Chile
19. France
20. Spain
--------------------------------------------
124. Kazakhstan
125. Cambodia
126. Burundi
127. Chad
128. Ethiopia
129. Argentina
130. East Timor
131. Kyrgyz Republic
132. Lesotho
133. Libya
134. Algeria
It amazes me to no end the brainwashing that you have endured.
You can't even distinguish the originator of the report. It was produced by the World Economic Forum, dunce. Sorry, I take that back. I shouldn't make fun of the illiterate.
But now I can just drop this silliness as there is no point to such a discussion with someone that can't read.
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM!
Now back out side to the sand box with you. Dinner will be at 6.
This is in response to his behind-closed-doors actions during the health care process:
"We had to make so many decisions quickly in a very difficult set of circumstances that after awhile, we started worrying more about getting the policy right than getting the process right," Obama told ABC’s Diane Sawyer Monday.
"Let's just clarify. I didn't make a bunch of deals," Obama told ABC. (Did he forget about Mary Landrieu's $100 million bribe?) "There is a legislative process that is taking place in Congress and I am happy to own up to the fact that I have not changed Congress and how it operates the way I would have liked."
His OWN WORDS say he's owning up to the lack of transparency. Strike #8 MMA.
So how is this an accomplishment? If you mean making Phillip Morris, USA (smokeless tobacco) more able to sell their products, then Ok.
The law shovels out $5.7 billion of your taxes over the next five years to "boost volunteerism" at AmeriCorps and elsewhere. In an era of trillons of dollars in wasteful spending, that's a real bargain.