Research Briefings

8

Jan

The Democrats’ Job Standard

Posted by: Research

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After Attacking Bush During Periods Of Job Growth, And Pledging Their Stimulus Would Create Millions Of Jobs, Where’s The Dems’ Outrage?

RNC CHAIRMAN MICHAEL STEELE: “For close to a full year the American people have been forced to watch and in many cases bear the burden of our ever increasing national unemployment rate which unfortunately remained in the double digits throughout the month of December.  More than 85,000 Americans lost their jobs in the month of December, meaning more than 2.8 million Americans have lost their jobs since the stimulus passed, and the national unemployment rate remains at 10 percent.  The American economy is a powerful and amazingly resilient system that will always naturally return to balance because of the determination and unique ingenuity of the American worker.  But President Obama’s singular focus on enacting his government-run liberal policies are single-handedly preventing this return.  It’s time for President Obama to heed the recent words of Democrat Senator Ben Nelson and finally do what he should have been doing over the past year – put his full and undivided attention on fixing our economy.”

LEADING DEMS ATTACKED BUSH WHEN MILLIONS OF JOBS WERE BEING CREATED …

In 2003, Over 87,000 Jobs Were Created. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 1/6/10)

  • But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Criticized 2003 Job Creation As “Far From Enough.” “The slight increase in jobs last month is wonderful news for 57,000 Americans. But the 2.1 million Americans who have been actively looking for work for more than two years … know that it is far from enough …” (Rep. Nancy Pelosi, “Pelosi: ‘Slight Jobs Increase Far From Enough -- We Must Do More to Create Jobs and Growth,’” Press Release, 10/3/03)

In 2004, Over 2 Million Jobs Were Created. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 1/6/10)

  • But In 2004, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) Claimed Bush “Created A Climate … Where The Number of Jobs Is Not Growing.” “This President has created a climate in this country where the number of jobs is not growing. It did not have to be that way.” (Sen. Dick Durbin, Congressional Record, 10/08/04, p. S10764)

In 2005, Over 2.5 Million Jobs Were Created.  (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 1/6/10)

  • But Pelosi Called 2005 Job Creation Numbers “Anemic.” “Today’s anemic jobs numbers confirm that President Bush has still failed to create a single new private-sector job since he became President.” (Rep. Nancy Pelosi, “Pelosi: ‘Today’s Anemic Jobs Numbers Confirm the Administration Has Failed to Create a Single New Private-Sector Job,’” Press Release, 6/3/05)

In 2006, Over 2.1 Million Jobs Were Created. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 1/6/10)

  • But Pelosi Claimed Bush Policies “Favored The Privileged Few At The Expense Of America’s Working Families.” (Rep. Nancy Pelosi, “Democrats Will Restore the Economic Security of America’s Working Families,” Press Release, 9/22/06)

By 2007, 5.7 Million Jobs Had Been Created Under Bush.  (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 1/6/10)

  • But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) Claimed Bush Had “Shameful History Of Losing American Jobs.” (Sen. Harry Reid, “Reid: As Unemployment Reaches Two-year High, American Jobs Are The Latest Casualty Of Bush’s Failed Economic Policies,” Press Release, 1/4/08)

THEN PROMISED THEIR $787 BILLION STIMULUS WOULD CREATE MILLIONS OF JOBS

In February, Obama Signed $787 Billion Stimulus Bill, Claiming It Would “Fix The Economy.” “President Obama on Tuesday signed the $787 billion stimulus package ... ‘We have begun the essential work of keeping the American dream alive in our time,’ Obama said, calling the legislation ‘the beginning of the end’ of what needed to be done to fix the economy.”  (Michael A. Fletcher, “Obama Leaves D.C. To Sign Stimulus Bill,” The Washington Post, 2/18/09)

And Obama Pledged That Stimulus Would Create 3.5 Million Jobs By End Of 2010. “[W]hat makes this recovery plan so important is not just that it will create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years ...” (President Barack Obama, Remarks At The Signing Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act, Denver, CO, 2/17/09)

SO DEMS NEED TO CREATE 6.3 MILLION JOBS IN 2010 TO MEET THEIR OWN STANDARD, A LEVEL OF JOB GROWTH THAT HAS NEVER BEEN ACHIEVED

2.8 MILLION Jobs Lost Since Obama’s Signed His $787 Billion Stimulus In February 2009. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 12/10/09)

  • Including 85,000 More Jobs Lost Last Month. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 1/8/09)

In Addition To 3.5 MILLION Jobs Obama Promised Would Be Created By His $787 Billion Stimulus By December 2010. (President Barack Obama, Remarks At The Signing Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act, Denver, CO, 2/17/09)

That Equals 6.3 MILLION Jobs Dems Need To Create This Year Alone To Declare Economic Success, A Level Of Job Growth That Has Never Been Achieved in American History. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 1/6/10)

  • Because In 1946, 4.3 MILLION Jobs Were Created, Largest Job In A Single Calendar Year In American History. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 1/6/10)

KNOWING AMERICANS WILL JUDGE THEM ON JOB CREATION, AT LEAST ONE DEM IS OUTRAGED OVER SQUANDERED 2009

Obama Says “The Yardstick Should Be … Am I Creating These Jobs?” (Sam Stein, “Obama: Judge Me On The Jobs I Create,” The Huffington Post, 12/15/08)

  • Pelosi: “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs … We Will Measure Our Success In That Way; And Hopefully The American People Will, Too, In The Next Election.” (Greg Sargent, “Pelosi: Judge Dems’ Success On Whether We Create ‘Jobs, Jobs, Jobs,’” “The Plum Line” Blog, 12/3/09)

DGA Chairman, Gov. Jack Markell (D-DE), Says “Burden Of Proof” On Dems To Show That They’re Creating Jobs. “When you've got as many people unemployed in the country as you do, it's understandable that folks will be looking to their leaders to do everything possible to create jobs. As Democrats, there's a burden of proof here.” (Peter Wallsten and Naftali Bendavid, “Departures Shake Democrats,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/7/09)

  • But Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) Says Obama Made A Mistake In Pushing Health Care, And Should Have Focused On Jobs. “I think it was a mistake to take health care on as opposed to continuing to spend the time on the economy… I would have preferred not to be dealing with health care in the midst of everything else, and I think working on the economy would have been a wiser move …” (Chris Zavadil, “Nelson: We Should Have Waited On Health Care,” The Fremont Tribune, 1/6/10)
  • And Obama’s Liberal Agenda Preventing Small Businesses From Creating Jobs, “Could Impede An Economic Recovery.”  “But a health-care overhaul grinding through Congress could bring unknown new obligations to insure employees. Bush-era tax cuts are set to end next year, and their fate is unclear. Legislation aimed at tackling climate change might raise businesses’ energy costs. … Many companies say they have responded by freezing hiring, cutting benefits and delaying expansion plans. With at least 60% of job growth historically coming out of the small-business sector, according to the government’s Small Business Administration, that kind of inertia could impede an economic recovery.”  (Gary Fields, “Political Uncertainty Puts Freeze on Small Businesses,” The Wall Street Journal, 10/28/09)
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18 comments18 Comments

Posted by Waqidi Falicoff on 2010-01-11T15:30:54.967

The job creation numbers given here may be correct but the net jobs created under the Bush 8 year term is misrepresented. See for example the Wall Street Journal article of January 2009. http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/01/09/bush-on-jobs-the-worst-track-record-on-record/

Posted by Glen Craig on 2010-01-09T01:22:41.11

I agree with Tim, but the first thing we need to do is elect as many Republicans as possible this November. We need Strong Leaders who present a strong, coherent and realistic plan, but the people who call for throwing all the incumbents out are leading us down the path to continued Democrat majority in the Senate and the House. There are too many Democrats in areas that won't vote the incumbents out and voting out Republicans just puts Democrats in their place who will vote the Obama agenda. First vote in as many Republicans as we can and change control of the House and Senate, then work on voting in more strong Conservative Republicans. Changing control of the House and Senate has to be the main objective if we want to prevent our Great Country from going further down the tubes.

Posted by Juan Gonzalez on 2010-01-08T16:45:57.933

After listening to the democrats with their main stream media accomplices criticize President Bush for every piece of lint in the government for 8 years, I am glad to see the GOP hammering back at the unprincipled, untruthful democrats. 0bama and the democrats are catering to their constituent base that includes the irresponsible, the dependent, the lazy, the uneducated, and the dishonest. Those types need a little accommodation but should not be the entire focus of federal government policy simply to buy votes at the expense of the productive, working, taxpaying middle-class. Say what you will about the imperfections of the GOP, but they are not trying to single handledly bankrupt the USofA like the democrat elected officials and their elitist, rich democrat supporters.

Posted by Robert W on 2010-01-08T16:44:59.517

I am not an economist. But, I do know that I have a friend who owns a chain of tanning stores. He employees a fair amount of people, mostly part time. As a result of the planned health care that is coming, he is going to have to fire a lot of the people working for him. He simply cannot afford to pay the health care costs for all of his employees that will be required. How many more jobs will be lost from businesses in similar situations?

Posted by Richard Hiscox on 2010-01-08T16:02:19.77

Tim is 100% correct above. It has been far too long since the GOP actually led. It is time we elect true Constitutional Conservatives across the board. Get the government out of things it doesn't belong in ala pre FDR Supreme Court. Set the stage where people can prosper by their own devices, though nothing is assured. You have the right to achieve, or fail. No cradel to grave assurances of being taken care of. That's what family, community, and religous affiliations are for, not government. Remind everyone that although we have more rights in this country than anywhere else on earth, but among them you will NOT find the right not to be offended. We will not outlaw everything that offends anyone. PC is a thing of the failed past. It's time to get real, roll up our sleeves and rebuild what has been torn assunder. Time to thicken our skins and truly enjoy the diversity this country has to offer naturally, not by social engineering policies. Purposely quoting a Dem here (who would be with the GOP today) "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

Posted by Janet Elliott on 2010-01-08T15:39:46.82

I agree with Tim. Read Peggy Noonan's article from today. She agrees with Tim also. Janet Elliott

Posted by Kathleen Ervin on 2010-01-08T15:19:28.56

While I, as Mr. McClellan, also see that the GOP needs to promote their plans for fixing the situation, I cannot help but add to the piling on of this administration. My first question, when I saw the unemployment for December, was, "I wonder how many of those jobs were cut right after the senate voted in the monstrosity of a health care bill." My husband is involved in a chat room where he spoke with a man from the west coast who stated that if this health care bill is passed, there will be no reason for him to keep his business open. He already has difficulties, but that bill is a huge impediment to his ability to maintain needed employees. I fear many more jobs will be lost, and productivity decreased, once this bill actually goes through. The Fairtax would be one idea that could possibly improve this situation; and allowing people to purchase insurance from other states, thus creating true competition within the insurance community would be another. DO SOMETHING WORTHWHILE!

Posted by carol lowery on 2010-01-08T15:02:14.27

The Republican party cannont win with any talk of abortion as the first concern. Let them ask you about that. Any President that would try to overturn wade vs roe at this time in history will be history, they wont be president. You can have your beliefs, but that is where it should rest. Jobs are what we need, and we dont need the government to borrow any more money for that because it's just a credit card getting deeper into debt. You can not borrow your way out of debt. Give these small businesses some money, they will pay you back. Dont allow this foolish Healthcare plan to be the law. It will kill us all. Reach out to everyone and when you do be genuine. People know what they feel. Get the National Security straight. How hard can it be. This should not be a political agenda. For once, I wish Al Gore was right about global warming, it's cold has hell.

Posted by Joshua Holt on 2010-01-08T14:59:56.143

I agree with you Tim. We must not relive the mistakes of the past and we must make the most of the opportunity to better our country. I am glad that we appear to have gotten over our fear to call out our opponents when they are lying, now lets show America we have a plan to better our nation, restore our economy, and improve our national security.

Posted by John Newman on 2010-01-08T14:53:23.937

YES! Republicans need a coherent plan, they can't just be the anti-Obama's, anti-Democrats, anti-Crazed, left wing lunatics. That's NOT enough. Start with offshore drilling, rolling back the stupid regulatory mess, building nuclear power plants, cutting taxes, winding down TARP, and promoting REAL health care reform by capping damages in lawsuits, opening insurance competition across state lines, leveling the playing field as far as taxes go for employer provided and individually purchased plans, and yes, requiring insurance companies to grant coverage to all who apply. And for God's sake, don't act like damn Democrats next time Republicans control Congress. Govern like REPUBLICANS, not Politicians!

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