Major Defeat for Obama as Jobs Bill Fails
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on October 12th, 2011 4:39 am by HL
Major Defeat for Obama as Jobs Bill Fails
“Nothing quite illustrates the depth of Barack Obama’s weakness in Washington better than the painfully public defeat the Senate handed him Tuesday by blocking his signature American Jobs Act,” the Daily Beast reports.
“The defeat was a sharp rebuke for Obama that amounted to a vote of no confidence on the economic policies of recovery spending that he’s championed for years, namely his idea that flooding the economy with public money will jump-start the private sector. But even Obama’s fellow Democrats seem to have developed sufficient spending fatigue to put the brakes on new outlays, while the most moderate Democrats say the economy will never recover as long as the deficit continues to spiral out of control.”
Los Angeles Times: “Now, Democrats will bring up individual elements of the bill that have widespread appeal in opinion polls.”
Weighing the Victim Card on the Campaign Trail
The Hill notes that while “All presidents are insecure about their standing and worry their power will be usurped by Congress… when it comes to Obama, whether because of his race, his name or his politics, the perception that he is being treated differently from his predecessors seems to be the largely unspoken belief in the White House and among the president’s fiercest supporters.”
As a campaign issue: “It’s possible that those people inspired by hope and change in 2008 could come to his defense if they feel like Obama’s efforts, and by extension their own, were constantly undermined by a Congress that never viewed Obama as presidential… It’s also possible that if that view is embraced by the left, it could hurt Obama. The left is viewed by swing-state independents as the same crowd as the Occupy Wall Street folks, and complaints Obama is being treated differently could lead voters in Peoria to see the president as a whiner trying to misdirect anger toward his ineffective policies by claiming to be a victim.”
Quote of the Day
“I just try to get up every day and do my job, and debates are not my strong suit.”
— Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), quoted by Politico at a post-debate party, explaining his distaste for debating.
