Mitt Romney will be in Allentown to take a cheap shot at President Obama on the closed Allentown Metalworks, which Obama visited previously to sell the stimulus. I’ll credit the Romney campaign for good political theatre, but on the substance, the premise is total crap.
What the Romney campaign is doing here is playing a silly game with causation:
1. Obama visited the Metalworks to sell the stimulus.
2. Now the Metalworks is closed.
3. ???
4. We should blame Obama for the Metalworks closing.
It’s deeply stupid. Yes, the economy certainly did lose a lot of jobs after Obama was sworn into office. But did the economy lose those jobs because of Obama? Did the ARRA make the economy worse? The answers to these questions are not subjective. There’s no evidence at all to support either of these views.
So for reporters covering this event, when Romney says Obama made the economy worse, there are two very simple questions to ask:
1. When Obama took office, the economy was shrinking. Now it’s growing. In what way is that “worse”?
2. When Obama took office, the economy was hemorrhaging jobs. Now it’s gaining jobs. In what way is that “worse”?
Simplistic statements by Romney and questions by you, and neither of them are worth a hill of horse manure.
Anyone who thinks one person, even the President, did all the damage or fixed anything is just a stone cold moron.
What happened was a group effort. And aany recovery is a group effort as well.
Posts like this show a complete lack of intellectual depth. Come on Jon, don't be a partisan hack. Step it up.
Look, the point here is very simple. Romney is going to say that Obama made the economy worse. There's no proof of that. Reporters should point that out in his press conference.
And there's no proof that Obama did anything to fix it by himself either.
If you're truly independent, point out both. We need reality in the discussion, not made-up bullshit from either side.
Independent.
Yawn…
Shovel Ready Job, anyone?
Hey Jimmy Olsen – are you going to come in from New York to cover this one?
There's plenty of evidence that the stimulus boosted growth relative to a no-stimulus baseline. The Democrats didn't propose anything close to the size of the stimulus the economy actually needed in 2009, so you can fault them for not doing enough to restore demand. By contrast though, the Republican "proposals" are a complete joke. There's just nothing there. You don't have to like those choices – I certainly don't – but they're the choices we have, and one is clearly less damaging than the other.
Shovel Ready Jobs ???
Unemployment won't go where ???
You will do better to keep defending disgraced Progressive Liberal ANTHONY WEINER…
Unless, of course, this piece was an attempt at humor. In that event, well done, Lad!
M. THATCHER
The stimulus wasn't too small, it was too porkified. And it didn't waive Davis Bacon.
Did you ever look at Allentown's failed commercial energy efficiency program? Increases in costs for the project killed the benefits of stimulus dollars. End result – no business got done.
Examples abound Jon – don't fall into the trap of being a hack for the unions, they don't give a crap about putting people to work. And don't fall for that crap that there are only two wages – union wage and poverty wage. Plenty of room in the middle.