Our gracious leader was at it again Wednesday at a town hall meeting in North Carolina. The P.R.esident, as I can only refer to someone who spends more time on TV than The Golden Girls (and if you've ever watched Lifetime, you know they're on a lot), hit the neverending campaign trail, teleprompter in tow, to sell the improving economy. You know, the economy that has been shedding jobs like a snake sheds skins and driving consumer confidence down to just a notch above Michael Vick's popularity among PETA members.
"We may be seeing the beginning of the end of the recession," the president told a packed auditorium of pre-chosen audience members. "We have stopped the free fall. The market is up and the financial system is no longer on the verge of collapse."
For those with a short memory, we've been witnessing the Obama Administration see signs of an economic recovery for four or five months now. Come to think of it, April 1st sounds about right, and we're all fools for believing a word. If it seems like deja vu all over again, maybe that's because it is.
"What we're starting to see is glimmers of hope across the economy," Obama bragged on April 10. His economic adviser and architect of the stimulus, Lawrence Summers, concurred. "We can be reasonably confident that it's going to end within the next few months and you'll no longer have that sense of free fall."
This is the same Larry Summers that's also a fan of measuring the strength of the economy by monitoring google searches instead of those actually searching for jobs. But if the glimmers of hope in April were only a mirage, no worries. A month later, with unemployment hitting it's worst levels in nearly 26 years, Barack had another stirring vision.
"It's safe to say we have stepped back from the brink," the president told a Beverly Hills audience on May 27. "The stimulus bill that Congress passed three months ago is starting to improve the economy."
Moses this guy ain't, but half the country seems prepared to follow him across the economic wasteland. This is the same stimulus bill that has only handed out 8% of the hundreds of billions allocated thus far and is only slated to hand out 20% by the end of the year. Vice-president Joe Biden has also been on a speaking tour to spread the good news about the Dems' failing stimulus.
"Thanks to the Recovery Act we are making critical investments in our infrastructure, stimulating billions of dollars of activity and creating millions of jobs like the ones here in Bergen County," the veep told New Jersey officials on May 7.
At the time of the speech, New Jersey's unemployment rate was 8.5%. Today it's 9.2%. The vice-president's appearances have had similar effects around the nation. If he's planning to show up in your town, you might want to treat the boss to dinner. I'm just saying. But at least Biden has been willing to jump off-script and tell the truth on occasion, as he did earlier this month when he admitted to George Stephanoupolos, "we and everyone else misread the economy."
If Obama has had no positive effect on the economy, the same can't be said for the effect he's had on the press. While some were trumpeting his economic healing powers the day after the election, others have gone out of their way to find the silver lining despite poor job reports, to sell the end of the recession as quickly as possible in order to push Obama's socialist agenda. These stooges, whether at Reuters, Newsweek, or MSNBDNC, wait breathlessly on the edge of their seats for anything they can point to as signs of a recovery. You can imagine how overexuberant they'll be the first month there isn't terrible news, as the business cycle naturally runs its course and unemployment drops back below 8 or 9%. Still far from full employment. Nevermind the biggest thing preventing private sector growth right now is increased government debt to pay for the stimulus boondoggle.
I can't imagine what it's like to live in Communist China, but I'm getting a sense of what it's like to experience state-run media right here in the U.S.A. When China or Venezuela publish their unbelievable propaganda, when they stage their silly photo-ops with the very people they're insulting, do the lies really get that much bigger? The whoppers advertised by Brother O's Traveling Salvation Show defy logic and lack credibility. It's one thing to remain upbeat and positive. It's another to pretend your policies are the only thing that can save the economy, pass them, and then lie about how well they are working.
How long before we see the headline, "Great Leader Inspires Confidence"? When such things are written, results no longer matter.
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