Obama says GOP would have caused 'deeper world of hurt'

Obama says GOP would have caused 'deeper world of hurt'
By Sam Youngman - 05/18/10 01:33 PM ET


Improving economic numbers Tuesday gave President Barack Obama something to cheer about as he continued his Main Street tour in Youngstown, Ohio.

Obama, riding high after the economy added almost 300,000 jobs last month, warned of darker days ahead even as he castigated Republicans for trying to score political points off of some of the "unpopular" moves Obama said he had to make to spark the economic recovery.

The president, who toured manufacturing company V&M Star, boasted of the jobs being added to the economy because of his $787 billion stimulus package, focusing on jobs added in the critical swing state of Ohio.

Even as the president said he would not "stand here and pretend things are back to normal or even close," Obama said that the situation for Ohioans and the economy would be worse if Republicans had won in their opposition to his policies.

"If the just-say-no crowd had won out – if we had done things that way – we’d be in a deeper world of hurt," Obama said in prepared remarks.

The president called out the GOP for "predicting and even rooting for failure," accusing Republican lawmakers of hypocrisy for opposing the stimulus package but promoting projects it funds.

" Because even as they tried to score political points by attacking what we did, many of them went home and claimed credit for the very things they voted against," Obama said. "They show up and they cut the ribbons, and send the mailings home touting the very projects they opposed in Washington, and try to have it both ways. Imagine that in politics?"

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http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/98391-obama-says-gop-would-have-caused-deeper-world-of-hurt-for-economy

The GOP's got nothing.

And they're lying if they think McCain would have done something a whole lot different, especially with a democratic congress to deal with. Money was gonna be spent. Even his own people would have told him that.

...that slogan is really the only thing keeping democrats afloat. And that's pretty sad. Especially since there have been things they have done to actually make people's lives better.

But half the battle is media and public relations and since we as a party have the most ass-backwards, ill conceived, and pathetic media game imagineable no matter how good our officials actually make things with their policies it's never going to change and all we'll continue to do is tread water.

Just wait until things start really getting better because of democratic policies and republicans step up their game of going out there and taking credit for it while all we can do is limp along pathetically.

eventually no one will believe it any more. BIOB works for a year... maybe 2... but after 3 years? He's gonna own it.

of accomplishments out there; how about blaming the media for not getting the truth out there? They control what people are aware of, like it or not.

..but at this point even a complete moron knows how the game is played. Yes the media are shitty refs. No doubt about it.

But the GOP and republicans play hard offense. All the time. Every time. 97% of the time they bring their A game to every media appearance, stay on message all the time and always have a finger ready to point.

Dems are too worried about playing nice and not being aggressive and not offending anyone and trying for "bipartisanship". I'm sorry but the democratic party should have a stable of hardcore, constantly on-message dem operatives out there playing offense all the time every time. It's so painfully rare to see a dem on tv not playing defense or not responding to loaded questions or talking points rather than giving them.

There is just no cohesive message and no coherent messengers.

I'm not saying the media isn't to blame but they are easily led fools who go more to the simple, shiny, impressive object every time. The GOP and their talking heads provide this at the drop of a hat. Easily communicated, easily digested, and easily understood talking points repeated over and over and over and over again. The media doesn't play to that only because they are corporatist (although that plays a big part) they go to that because it's easy, it's simple, and it sells and doesn't require any work on their part. The GOP knows how to get on TV, repeat a few simple slogans and get the message out. Dems get on TV and pontificate and obfuscate and explain and lecture. Why do you think Grayson was made such a hero? Because he did what we need to do always. Everyone other than Grayson and Kucinich (and I'm by no means a Kucinich fan) spend more time apologizing and explaining and discussing bipartisanship than getting up there and finding a simple way to say "We are good, we have good ideas, and the other guys suck and your life will be miserable under their control".

nothing and obstructing everything. Yes, they remained cohesive, all right. But how could anyone applaud and/or support that? If the media did a better job of explaining what they did or didn't do vs. what Dems have done, I think people would think twice before voting for them.

Not that 30% that listen to faux; nothing will deter them, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of brain power there.

..I'm talking about a media A game. Every time they go on tv, every one of them gives a succinct, cohesive message. That message may be filled with lies and stupidity but it's simple, and it gets it out there.

We can sit here and furrow our brows and scratch our chins trying to figure out why the media does or doesn't do a particular thing. But no matter what we do that's not going to change. They aren't going to fact check and they aren't going to stop playing the "point/counterpoint...both sides do this" routine. It's just not going to go away.

So dems can either whine about that and complain about it and continue to get out there and try and give elaborate, nuanced explanations and answers and try to play nice and "reach out" or they can just realize this is how the game is now played and get a better team going for that function.

We have the better ideas. We have the better plans. But without a way to sell it and get the messages out there simply and succinctly it means next to nothing.