Don’t laugh. President Barack Obama has a new campaign slogan: “Yes, we did.” And it doesn’t stop there. Republicans, an animated Obama argued Thursday, wouldn’t have.
They wouldn’t have set the economy back on track, he said during a fundraiser for Senate candidate Robin Carnahan, or passed a health care overhaul or financial regulatory reform. Giving the GOP control of Congress again – a possibility that Obama acknowledged – would usher in another era of a “you’re on your own philosophy,” he said.
“You’re going to face a choice in November. This is a choice between the policies that got us into this mess in the first place and the policies that got us out of this mess, and what the other side is counting on is people not having a good memory,” Obama said in a fiery 30-minute speech at the Folly Theater in downtown Kansas City. “They are peddling that same snake oil that they’ve been peddling now for years.”
“Kick ‘em out,” a donor yelled.
“Well, we did kick ‘em out,” Obama replied, “because it wasn’t working.”
With less than four months before voters deliver a verdict on his first two years in office, Obama is adding more muscle to his fight against Republicans and for Democrats. Much of Democrats’ trouble this cycle stems from their votes for unpopular initiatives on Obama’s agenda, including the economic stimulus bill and the health care overhaul. But the president is trying his best to turn that equation around.
“We don’t have to guess how the other party will govern because we’re still living with results from the last time,” Obama said, insisting the GOP’s political approach will fail.
Obama is an imperfect messenger, particularly in a battleground state like Missouri, which he very narrowly lost in 2008 but has visited repeatedly since taking office. His approval rating here is below 50 percent. And earlier this year, Carnahan was seen as distancing herself from Obama by being out of town while he was in her state.
In a sign of the double edge that Obama brings in this election, Carnahan criticized her opponent, Rep. Roy Blunt, for voting for the $700 billion TARP legislation in 2008, calling him “Mr. Bailout” during her introduction of Obama.
Obama voted for the bank bailout bill as a senator.
The president didn’t seem fazed by the ding. Carnahan, the Missouri secretary of state who is running against Blunt for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Kit Bond, also promised to “call bull” on Obama if she makes it to Washington.
Obama was at his best. He was in a good mood. He laughed at his own jokes and found the right pitch that connected with the crowd. He was also as partisan as he gets, calling out Republicans by name and having fun at their expense.
{Politico/Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}
That’s scary. It’s one thing to be self-delusional. It’s another to tactically delude the masses.
kick him out is right
who sat in galach wrights hate house for 20 years?
“YES WE DID”
Two things (at the very least) are wrong with what Barack Hussien said. #1, it was not the republicans that got us into this mess, its the democrats that ruled the Capitol from 2006 to 2008 that did. Coupled with Bush’s policies in that time, which were tailered to what people wanted, rather than what they needed. This was because he was trying to get some popularity after losing it all because of Iraq. #2, Obama, by no means has gotten us our of this mess. Has the unenplyement rate gotten better since he had gotten president? Have our taxes gone down? Has the defecit been reduced? Has our manufaturing gone up? And in the foreign polisy. Has Iran been stopped. Has Afganastan been taken care of? Have our global threats been removed. Obama has put us in a mess, a terrible quagmire. He has, by no means, gotten us out.
Obama, you’re absolutely right: “Yes we did… mess up the economy.”