Sunday, December 07, 2008

Obama On The Economy

When some folks said stuff like this months ago, they were accused of “talking down the economy.”

“If you look at the unemployment numbers that came out yesterday, if you think about almost 2 million jobs lost so far, if you think about the fragility of the financial system and the fact that it is now a global financial system so that what happens in Thailand or Russia can have an impact here, and obviously what happens on Wall Street has an impact worldwide, when you think about the structural problems that we already had in the economy before the financial crisis, this is a big problem, and it’s going to get worse,” he said in the interview taped Saturday.

The real story about Obama’s comments are this:

Obama’s assessment, offered with an eye toward lowering the already considerable expectations on his shoulders…

Obama is desperately trying to lower expectations now that the campaign is over.  Is it working?  As one who never have high expectations for him, I’m not in a position to answer that question. 

In good news…

In the wide-ranging appearance, Obama once again gave strong indications that he’s backing off his stance on two key campaign pledges – whether to repeal President George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the rich, and his call for bringing U.S. combat troops home from Iraq in 16 months.

Let’s hope those indications prove accurate.

(4) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1542 hrs
Politics + Politics - General

  1. I don’t know if I’m comfortable with him talking down the economy like this. 

    But I think what he is saying is 100% correct rather than him simply playing a game of reducing expectations.  To use the military term, the situation on the ground is substantially worse the last 30-days post election.  Back in September you just had guys like me saying there was a radioactive cloud drifting over the US. Now we’ve got October and November sales figures on things like autos showing the mess.  Even Citibank came close to failing AFTER it got $25 billion in TARP money.

    What I hope he’s doing is setting the expectations to pull off a massive and non-political infrastructure program.  But my gut tells me he’d be better off going with the Reagan approach of talking up America rather than talking it down, even if intellectually he knows our problems.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 07, 2008 at 1634 hrs


  2. “Obama is desperately trying to lower expectations now that the campaign is over.”

    Actually he’s echoing what most credible economists and business leaders are saying. Do you disagree with his assessment?

    And did you accuse Cheney of talking down the economy when he was raising the R word (well before one was declared, mind you) to justify tax cuts after the 2000 election?

    Posted by Brew City Brawler on December 07, 2008 at 1641 hrs


  3. Obama is desperately trying to lower expectations now that the campaign is over.

    Indeed.  With the victim mentality of a majority percentage of black americans in this country, and the sentiment that what is “keeping them down” is white people.  I’m certain many think that when Barack takes office this magic cloud will settle over the country and they will suddenly have a better life bestowed upon them. Listen below:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyHkKvscffA

    If we hear these things anecdotally across the internet, (there’s that other one with the lady who thinks she’s going to be able to afford her mortgage and gas:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P36x8rTb3jI

    Imagine what Obama must have heard on the campaign trail and beyond.  He knows black americans think he’s the messiah.  He knows no one could live up to “the hype”. 

    Its going to be interesting to watch.

    But my gut tells me he’d be better off going with the Reagan approach of talking up America rather than talking it down, even if intellectually he knows our problems.

    I agree, but he can’t do that. Its too much of a departure.  For America to grow and prosper we need optimism AND motivation.  We need people to take control of their financial future.  Obama was telling people for the last year + that “you’ve done your part, now its time for washington to do its part”.  Obama’s constituency does not want to be told the truth.  That don’t want someone to tell them that if they want to improve their position in life THEY must DO something.  Oh no…  They want something for nothing.  They want a savior.  That mentality will destine people to fail.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 07, 2008 at 1652 hrs


  4. Have you ever actually met a black American?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 08, 2008 at 1307 hrs


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