President Obama was asked about the whole Cory Booker situation today and below is his response. I sense a little hint of someone who is fired up and ready to go… with a little annoyance mixed in. A great combination.Can you tell?
Tag: President Obama
Appearing on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Show today, Mitt Romney’s senior campaign adviser said that Mitt Romney created more jobs during his time as Massachusetts Governor, than President Obama created nationwide. Said Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney’s adviser;
“With respect to Mitt Romney’s period of time as the governor of Massachusetts — in that four years as governor he created between 30k and 40k jobs. That is more than President Obama has created for the entire nation. And at Bain Capital, of course the mission was to create value, that’s how the free enterprise system works, but when you create value, when you add value as they did in trying to improve companies, you also add employment, and a rough back-of-the-envelope estimate of how many jobs they created is well in excess of 100,000.”
The Hill is reporting that “Romney made a similar claim early in the Republican primary season, but seemed to walk the number down after it was challenged by his GOP presidential rivals. At later points during the cycle, Romney has said he created “tens of thousands” or “thousands” of jobs.
The Romney campaign has not detailed the method it’s using to come to these estimates, but critics say Romney is taking credit for jobs created after his tenure, not subtracting out jobs that were eliminated after his tenure, or taking credit for business deals that he had little to do with.”
But here are some figures everyone can understand, everyone that is, except Mitt Romney and his coons. CNN took a look at just one of President Obama’s policy initiative – the original Stimulus. The report found that:
The stimulus bill passed by Democrats in 2009 with almost universal Republican criticism was split into three parts: Just over $200 billion in tax cuts, about $300 billion in direct spending on projects and other aid to states, and just under $300 billion in social safety-net spending through items such as extended unemployment benefits and health insurance subsidies.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the parts of the program that got the most criticism — actual spending on projects and aid packages — was the most effective in creating jobs.
Tax cuts for middle income workers were less effective while tax cuts for the wealthy were deemed the least effective.
Still, the CBO estimates that at least 1.4 million jobs were created and saved by the direct spending alone, and that as many as 3.6 million jobs were produced while stimulus funds were being spent.
And that’s just on the Stimulus. Not being counted in this 3.6 million figure are the jobs created or saved from the auto bailout, or the jobs gained from the 17 different tax cuts the president signed for small businesses. Compare 3.6 million jobs created by the Obama Administration to the “30 to 40 thousand” created by Romney. Anyone with common sense and the most basic knowledge of Math knows which figure is higher. Romney and his surrogates however, are content in preaching to their base.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Sunday said House Speaker John Boehner was right to focus attention on a possible hike in the nation’s debt ceiling, saying it was a “perfect time” to address the nation’s fiscal health, but placing the burden for moving forward with President Obama.
“At some point here, this president needs to become the adult, because the Speaker and I have been the adults in the room, arguing that we need to do something about the nation’s most serious long-term problem,” said McConnell on CBS’s Face the Nation.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) restarted the debate over a possible debt-ceiling hike last week when he called for dollar-for-dollar cuts in exchange for any raise in the limit. Boehner said he feared that without early negotiations on a long-term fiscal plan, lawmakers post-election would only have a few weeks to avoid what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has called a “fiscal cliff” with looming cuts to spending and expiring Bush-era tax rates.
[The Hill]
In the wake of the over two billion dollars lost at JP Morgan Chase, President Obama used his weekly address to call on Congress to fully implement the Wall Street Reforms he recently signed into law, a law that would protect consumers and make Wall Street accountable for their actions.
…We’ve put in place Wall Street reform with smarter, tougher, commonsense rules that serve one primary purpose: to prevent a crisis like that from ever happening again. And yet, for the past two years, too many Republicans in Congress and an army of financial industry lobbyists have actually been waging an all-out battle to delay, defund, and dismantle Wall Street reform.
Recently, we’ve seen why we can’t let that happen. We found out that a big mistake at one of our biggest banks resulted in a two billion dollar loss. While that bank can handle a loss of that size, other banks may not have been able to. And without Wall Street reform, we could have found ourselves with the taxpayers once again on the hook for Wall Street’s mistakes.
That’s why it’s so important that Members of Congress stand on the side of reform, not against it; because we can’t afford to go back to an era of weak regulation and little oversight; where excessive risk-taking on Wall Street and a lack of basic oversight in Washington nearly destroyed our economy. We can’t afford to go back to that brand of ‘you’re-on-your-own’ economics. Not after the American people have worked so hard to come back from this crisis.
We’ve got to keep moving forward.
Maybe these people are finally beginning to realize that their Religious views and the Constitution are two different things, and as President – his political job as the leader of this nation – Mr. Obama must do what the Constitution demands.
A new Pew Poll finds that roughly half of Americans (52%) say Barack Obama’s expression of support for gay marriage did not affect their opinion of the president. A quarter (25%) say they feel less favorably toward Obama because of this while 19% feel more favorably.
There are wide partisan and age differences in reactions to Obama’s expression of support for gay marriage, according to the latest weekly survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted May 10-13 among 1,003 adults.
In his weekly address, President Obama called on Republicans and Democrats in Congress to get to work for the American people. The President laid out items he said will produce immediate positive results for the middle class.
First, Congress should stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, and use that money to cover moving expenses for companies that bring jobs back to America.
Second, Congress should help the millions of Americans who have worked hard and made their mortgage payments on time refinance their mortgages at lower rates and save at least $3,000 a year.
Third, Congress should help small business owners by giving them a tax break for hiring more workers and paying them higher wages. Small businesses are the engine of economic growth in this country. We shouldn’t be holding them back – we should be making it easier for them to succeed.
Fourth, if Congress fails to act soon, clean energy companies will see their taxes go up and could be forced to lay off employees. These companies are putting Americans to work and helping break our dependence on foreign oil. Congress should extend these tax credits.
And finally, Congress should help our veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan by creating a Veterans Job Corps. Our men and women in uniform have served this country with honor. Now it’s our turn to serve them.
So that’s Congress’s “To-Do” List. But now we need them to start crossing things off. I need you to call your Members of Congress, write an email, tweet, and let them know we can’t afford to wait any longer to get things done. Tell them now is the time to take steps we know will grow our economy and create jobs.
Mark this day because it represents a turning point in the fight for equality in the United States. The President of the United States has stated his belief that adults who love each other should share in the same civil rights as other adults who love each other. Suddenly, the president’s new campaign slogan, Forward, has new resonance. Under Obama’s leadership, we have the opportunity to move forward towards a future where the guarantees of the 14th Amendment: “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” are applied to all citizens.
North Carolina might have just slammed the door on marriage equality and civil unions, but I have no doubt that ultimately that kind of discrimination and denial of rights will be overturned, and they should be. No state, even under the guise of federalism, should be able to hide behind a referendum when it comes to rights. This is why the Founders (you remember the Founders: This is a country about Founders) created a republic. They recognized the mischief inherent in allowing democratic votes on suspect propositions.
And where is Mitt Romney on the issue? Backwards. Mitt doesn’t believe that other people should share in civil rights because he, personally, doesn’t think that gays should have marriage equality. Isn’t that quaint? What other civil rights is Mitt going to deny people because he, personally doesn’t believe in them? I notice that he’s leaving caffeine drinkers alone, for now at least. Be thankful.
Of course, the big question is how this is going to affect the presidential race and more specifically, Obama’s reelection chances now that he’s jumped into the public pool with both feet. (By the way, without civil rights protections, Barack Obama would not have been able to swim in that public pool in North Carolina. Just sayin’.) My sense, and my hope, is that this helps him with the younger people who don’t seem quite as threatened by the idea of two loving adults actually being able to get married and share in all its legal bliss.
I could be wrong, but if I am, it will be because too many American don’t realize that it doesn’t matter who you love, just as it doesn’t matter what religion, race, gender, or creed you call yourself. The genius of this country is that all citizens are guaranteed equal protection. All. No exceptions. That’s something I will gladly fight for.
Please join the conversation at www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and on Twitter @rigrundfest
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he supports gay marriage, reversing his position on a controversial social issue just six months before the November election and adopting a stance fraught with political implications.
Mr. Obama had been under intense pressure this week to lay out a clear stance on gay marriage after several of his top advisers endorsed it. Mr. Obama said he “personally” believes gays and lesbians should have the right to marry, a position he came to after several years of talking to friends and family and thinking about gay members of the military and of his staff who are raising children together in monogamous relationships.
“I’ve been going through an evolution on this issue. I’ve always been adamant that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts. “At a certain point, I just concluded that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think that same sex couples should be able to get married.”
Despite adverse shocks that have created headwinds for economic growth the economy has added private sector jobs for 26 straight months, for a total of 4.25 million payroll jobs over that period. With upward revisions of 65,000 jobs to the past two months’ employment reports, in the first quarter of 2012 private employment expanded by 697,000 jobs, the largest quarterly increase since the first quarter of 2006. So far this year, 827,000 private sector jobs have been added, on net.
Ted Nugent is a man who has said some very outlandish things, most recently calling the President and members of his administration “criminals.” He was recently investigated by the CIA after making threatening remarks about the president’s possible re-election, where he said if the president gets elected for a second term, he [Nugent] will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.
The Republican nominee for president Mitt Romney, actively went after and got Ted’s endorsement. After Ted’s outburst against the President and his administration, the Romney campaign issued a weak statement basically saying that both sides should be mindful of what they say.
CBS received this interview with Nugent after his meeting with the Secret Service, and as I watch another unnecessary outburst from Nugent, I couldn’t help but wonder why Mitt Romney so desperately needed Ted’s endorsement.
USA Today is reporting that President Obama told a largely Hispanic gathering at the White House today that he will continue to fight for legislation that would ease the path to citizenship for some children of illegal immigrants.
Speaking at a Cinco de Mayo reception, Obama said congressional Republicans have blocked the “DREAM Act,” which would apply to undocumented college students and members of the military.
“We didn’t come this far just to let partisan politics stand in our way,” Obama said. “‘No’ is not an option.”
Latinos are the nation’s fastest-growing voting population, and are a major prize in this election.
Polls currently give Obama a huge lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney among Latino voters; the president’s re-election team is currently running ads in Spanish-language media.
Breaking News: Mitt Romney is an empty suit – but you already knew that. So it should come as no surprise to hear Mitt Romney’s plan to restore the economy.
While campaigning in Virginia earlier this week, Romney passed on some information explaining his answer to a common question these days – what would Romney do to help the economy?
“What I would do? People ask me, `What would you to get the economy going?’ and I say, `Well look at what the president’s done and do the opposite.”
Yep, that’s his answer and it’s quite alarming. To better understand the magnitude of this empty answer from this empty Republican suit named Mitt Romney, let’s take a look at some of the things President Obama has done, and the opposite path Romney would take.
1 – less than 4 years in office, President Obama has already cut taxes for small businesses 17 times. Romney would do the opposite, which means he will raise taxes on small businesses 17 times in his first term. But wait, there is a small issue called the Grover Norquist Pledge – a pledge that Republicans have taken making it impossible for them to raise taxes. So no opposite here.
2 – in less than 4 years, the President has cut taxes for 95% of the working middle class. A Romney opposite would be to raise taxes on 95% of the working middle class. By the way, that Grover Norquist pledge mentioned above would not apply here, as Republicans have shown a preference to putting the burdens of the economy squarely on the back of the middle class. Raising taxes on the middle class is an opposite Romney would certainly entertain.
3 – in less than 4 years, the President’s policies have saved the American Auto industry. A Romney opposite would be to let the auto industry die. As a matter of fact, Romney was very clear that killing the auto industry was his preferred method. He even said President Obama should “let Detroit go bankrupt.” I thought we were talking about helping the economy. Killing off the auto industry means killing off hundreds of thousands of jobs. Exactly how would this help the economy? Yes, definitely an opposite here.
4 – in less than 4 years, the President’s policies have created or saved over 4 million private sector jobs. A Romney opposite would be to eliminate these jobs. As a Venture Capitalist at Bain Capital, Mitt Romney did just that – taking over American companies, shutting them down and shipping those jobs overseas. And as governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney’s job record was dismal – he brought the state’s jobs record down to 47th out of all 50 states. Eliminating jobs? A proven Romney policy. Another definite opposite.
Although we could continue, the point is clear. Mitt Romney has finally decided to be honest about something. The only problem is his honesty about doing things opposite to President Obama on the economy is a recipe for disaster. We’ve already been down that road with Bush and that road lead us straight to this recession. We refuse to fall for the same failed game plan again.