Sabotage!

It's no secret that the day Obama was elected, the Republicans went to work jamming his agenda, to make their number 1 priority, as Senator Mitch McConnell said, unseating him in 2012.

Not jobs.
Not the war.
Not the economy.
Not children.
Not puppies.

Nope. Job #1: Undermining the president and making him a one-termer.

Let's just call it what it is: sabotage.
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• Biden: McConnell decided to withhold all cooperation even before we took office - The Plum Line - The Washington Post -(8/10/2012) http://wapo.st/OQxZ6E
• "page 207:Biden says that during the transition, he was warned not to expect any cooperation on many votes. “I spoke to seven different Republican Senators, who said, `Joe, I’m not going to be able to help you on anything,’ he recalls. His informants said McConnell had demanded unified resistance. “The way it was characterized to me was: `For the next two years, we can’t let you succeed in anything. That’s our ticket to coming back,’” Biden says."
• (confirmed by Bob Bennett and Arlen Specter)
• "The Republicans' 2012 election strategy is perversely brilliant: Sabotage President Barack Obama's job-creation efforts, then blame him for the wreckage. This strategy was in action the other day, when Mitt Romney assailed Mr. Obama on the stump. Mr. Romney said that "with America in crisis, with 23 million people out of work or stopped looking for work, he hasn't put forth a plan to get us working again. // Mr. Romney conveniently omitted the fact that Mr. Obama put forth such a jobs plan last autumn. The American Jobs Act would have put as many as 2 million construction workers, cops, teachers and firefighters back to work -- so said economic forecasters -- if only congressional Republicans hadn't dynamited it. // Yes, sabotage was required. Republicans knew their prospects for beating Mr. Obama would be damaged if they signed on to a plan that got more Americans working again. They're far too invested in economic misery to let that happen. As Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell candidly remarked in 2010, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."" (Sabotage Obama: The GOP's Job-Killing Political Strategy is Working Just Fine, July 2012)
• The Guardian: Did Republicans deliberately crash the US economy? Be it ideology or stratagem, the GOP has blocked pro-growth policy and backed job-killing austerity – all while blaming Obama (June 2012)
• 87/2012 @thinkprogress: Herman Cain is hoping for much higher gas prices to improve Romney's chances http://thkpr.gs/RmevK7
• Ryan shunned debt-ceiling standoff "Grand Bargain" bc feared a boost for Obama : Family, Faith and Politics Describe Life of Paul Ryan - NYTimes.com - http://nyti.ms/Nl6hDa
  • Ryan’s enormous influence was apparent last summer when Representative Eric Cantor, the second most powerful House Republican, told Mr. Obama during negotiations over an attempted bipartisan “grand bargain” that Mr. Ryan disliked its policy and was concerned that a deal would pave the way for Mr. Obama’s easy re-election, according to a Democrat and a Republican who were briefed on the conversation.
  • (more on debt deal: Matt Bai - Obama vs. Boehner - Who Killed the Debt Deal? - NYTimes.com (3/28/2012) http://nyti.ms/GTj3Bj )

Economic Amnesia (More Trickle Down)

The conventional wisdom is that the fate of the presidential elections will rely a lot on how the economy is doing in the fall. For this reason, many have said--even top Republican advisors, out loud!--that Republicans are purposefully hampering the economy in order to kneecap the president and his chances for re-election in 2012.
Meanwhile, recessions have cycles, and while we're not out of it by any stretch, there are signs of improvement. Even Republican governors are contradicting Romney's narrative of economic doom and gloom.

There is no question that our economy is sputtering along and people are hurting. Pres. Obama and his leadership/policies SHOULD be up for debate and review. And so should Romney's alternatives.

While Romney criticizes the weakness of our recovery and Obama's "failures" to bring us out of it faster/stronger, listen for whatever it is he is saying a "President Romney" would have done differently.

What, exactly, substantially, are his policies? And... Would they work?

• We know that he wouldn't have bailed out Detroit and the auto manufacturers ("Let Detroit go bankrupt").
• We know he wants to cut spending and criticizes the Obama stimulus package of 2009.
• We know he wants significant tax cuts, as well as extension of the Bush tax cuts, which go primarily to the wealthiest. 
• We know that he has accused (falsely) Obama of massively expanding government regulations, and said he'd cut the red tape that's supposedly choking economic growth.
• (Update: Tax Policy Center put together Romney's tax plans based on his statements (given that he hasn't released any specifics) and ran analysis of the numbers. Read the breakdown here: "Why Romney's Tax Plan Is Mathematically Impossible" [Aug 6, 2012, "Next New Deal]) 

So... in response to economic failures of  key industries, he would have done nothing. His response to recession would be cutting taxes for the wealthy and slashing regulations.

Who does this sound like?

There is no meaningful difference between the trickle-down economics of George W. Bush, rejected by the country in 2008, and the plans supported by Mr. Romney and his Republican allies in Congress. All the elements are there, from the slavish devotion to tax cuts for the rich, to a contempt for government regulation, to savage cutbacks in programs for those at the bottom. (The Political Contrast - NYTimes.com (6/14/2012))

And we have a record of how things worked out under these policies:

• Killer Facts on Failure of Bush Economic Policies | Americans for Responsible Taxes - http://goo.gl/3mm6F
• The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush | Politics | Vanity Fair (2007) http://goo.gl/A8gT
• Bush Tax Cuts Have Provided Extremely Large Benefits to Wealthiest Americans Over Last Nine Years — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (7/2012) http://goo.gl/xYxrc
• Presidential Job Records - NYTimes.com - Krugman (May 2012) http://goo.gl/Np9v6
• Mitt Romney and Taxing the Rich -   Lowered taxes on the rich have not correlated with faster GDP growth  - http://goo.gl/UJTR8
• Idea of the Day: Great Recession Could Have Been Prevented by Bush Administration - http://goo.gl/czDgD
• Krugman - Why doesn't Bush get economic credit? - NYTimes.com - 1/28/2008 - http://goo.gl/BU4zv
• Mitt Romney Promises to Create Eleventeen Million Jobs - NYTimes.com (5/12/2012) http://goo.gl/CVmxc -- 
• Romney said that we should be creating 500,000 jobs a month — which almost never happens — and that we should have 4 percent unemployment, which is way below almost anyone’s estimate of the lowest rate we can have without accelerating inflation.
  But he understands the economy, right?
• Since Romney is proposing a complete return to Bush economic policies, it might be interesting to note the average rate of job creation during Bush’s first 7 years in the White House — that is, his record even if you ignore the catastrophe at the end. And that average monthly rate, from the BLS, was … drum roll … 66,000.
• Economists: Romney’s ideas wouldn’t fix short-term crisis, and could make things worse - The Plum Line - The Washington Post (6/7/2012) http://goo.gl/gNKXT

Let's not forget.

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Trickle Down, Supply Side

• Tax Cuts For The Rich Do Not Spur Economic Growth: Study | TPMDC (9/17/2012) http://bit.ly/UcApTd

More on economic revisionism:

• Must read: Bruce Bartlett (REAGAN's guy), The Clinton Tax Challenge for Republicans (8/2012)
• Economists to Romney campaign: That’s not what our research says (8/8/2012) http://wapo.st/MjCHN3
• The Whole Story: Chairman Conrad's Response to Republican 'No Budget' Claims:  Senate Budget Committee (4/30/2012) http://goo.gl/svlZ0 

More on economy:

• Those Idiots In Washington Don't Know Jack About The Economy (7/27/2012) Business Insider - http://goo.gl/QwgCC
• Includes 10 economic untruths debunked
• The most important issue in this year's election is the economy. But as a survey of economists by the Chicago Booth School makes clear, the last people you should be listening to about how to fix the economy are the people in Washington. Why? Because they don't know jack about the economy. (Or, more likely, they know something about the economy but they care a lot more about getting elected than fixing the economy, so they'll say whatever they think will get them elected.)
• Ed.: Paul Ryan’s Cramped Vision - NYTimes.com (8/11/2012)  http://nyti.ms/Nhkelx
• A candidate of no details — I’ll cut the budget but no need to explain just how — has named a vice-presidential running mate, Paul Ryan, whose vision is filled with endless columns of minus signs. Voters will now be able to see with painful clarity just what the Republican Party has in store for them.
• Alternet: 8/2012: Obama v. Romney: Two Radically Different Visions Of America's Future   http://bit.ly/PAgGFc:
• We've got a stark choice: do we improve the systems that have made us rich and powerful in the past? Or do we tear them down in the name of "freedom," and hope for the best?
• 8/2012: RT @ThePlumLineGS: In an election all about economy, you'd think there'd be more scrutiny on which candidate's plan would fix it http://wapo.st/OHpEov
• Analyzing Mitt Romney's Plan To Fix The Economy... - Business Insider (July 11, 2012) http://goo.gl/dkImW
• Romney Campaign Said to Ask Rep. Gov Scott to Downplay Job Gains http://t.co/IY648OS5
• Katrina vanden Heuvel: Romney’s incredible extremes - The Washington Post (8/2012)  http://goo.gl/VYlX1 -- "Mitt Romney’s tax and spending plans are so irresponsible, so cruel, so extreme that they are literally incredible. Voters may find it hard to believe anyone would support such things, so they are likely to discount even factual descriptions as partisan distortion."
• Romney's tax plan crunches middle class - Tampa Bay Times 8/6/2012 http://bit.ly/PFAJSS
• Scot Lehigh - Romney's Fanciful Tax Plan- Opinion - The Boston Globe (8/8/2012) http://b.globe.com/PFAW8x
• Wonkbog: The Romney campaign says stimulus doesn’t work. Here are the studies they left out. (8/8/2012) http://wapo.st/O5YqWZ

Stimulus - Response - Stimulus - Response

The flip side of Austerity.  Stimulus = injecting $$ into the economy, to get money flowing again, so people can buy, businesses can expand and hire.  Stimulus is about spending and creating jobs. 

GOP/CONSERVATIVE HYPOCRISY/DOUBLESPEAK ON STIMULUS (they know it works, but campaign against it!)

• Wonkbog: The Romney campaign says stimulus doesn’t work. Here are the studies they left out. (8/8/2012) http://wapo.st/O5YqWZ
• National Memo » LOL Of The Week: Romney Accidentally Speaks The Truth (5/28/2012) http://goo.gl/8CdHY
• In a single sentence, Mitt admitted that everything the GOP has been saying about the economy since 2009 is a lie. Asked why he wouldn’t cut spending immediately, the presumptive nominee said: “Well, because if you take a trillion dollars, for instance, out of the first year of the federal budget, that would shrink GDP over 5%.”
• Chamber Of Commerce Government Spending, Pro-GOP | ThinkProgress (2/2012) 
• the Chamber has a selective memory. It was a leading proponent of Obama’s 2009 stimulus legislation promising that the tax cuts and even many of law’s spending provisions would “provide stimulus and get Americans back to work.” Allen has called the law a “jobless stimulus.” 
• Though the measure passed almost entirely along party lines, the Chamber spent millions in 2010 to defeat the Democrats who backed the bill — and some of that money may have come from foreign businesses. The $789 billion law has been the largest increase in spending in the Obama presidency.
• Romney Bashes Stimulus, Then Fundraises In Home Of Stimulus Recipient | ThinkProgress (May 2012) http://goo.gl/qv4Jy
• Darrell Issa: "I called for these policies (SHH) but everyone knows they don't work" /economists' view, 2/2011
• Allen West: praises work funded by stimulus (tho he is against it) 2/8/2011
• Republicans call for DEFUNDING half-finished projects that they called for (2/8/2011, ThinkProgress)

Messaging ("Framing") for 2012

Democrats and progressives are terrible about framing our own issues in our way; too often our leaders/spokespeople appear on the defensive, accepting a negative framing of some vote or issue as they try to defend against it. We need to get better at this.

The blog post that I've copied below, from Winning Words Project, is excellent in breaking down what "frames" (or messages) we should be getting out there, to affirmatively own our messages, rather than reactively. (More on framing, from me, here: Messaging, Framing)

Bad framing: David Axelrod on the President's economic message, and then, how he shoulda done it:

The below is from Crooks and Liars:

One of our objectives at The Winning Words Project is to help our elected officials, including (and especially!) the president, articulate the Progressive story so that it:

• Resonates with a wide audience, including Independents and those who fall in the middle of the political spectrum.
• Cuts the Republican smears off at the knees.
• Gives our policies the moral argument that's needed for their acceptance.
• Establishes our own frames without repeating Right Wing frames (which only reinforces them, even when used in debunking them).

$R-Money

All of Mitt's flips and flops in one video, so, all your candidate research, in a nutshell.

Pathetic: Mitt Romney Asks Pres. Obama to Stop Talking About His Taxes, Business Record - (Aug 2012) http://bit.ly/PL8mCQ

On 2008: "Why pick Palin, not Romney, as a running mate? “Oh come on, because we thought Sarah Palin was the better candidate,” John McCain told reporters Tuesday. “Why did we not take Pawlenty, why did we not take any of the other 10 other people. Why didn’t I? Because we had a better candidate, the same way with all the others.” (Sarah Palin was the better choice, says McCain - ComPost - The Washington Post - (7/17/12) http://goo.gl/41zYO )

Colbert takes down Mitt Romney and Bain... brilliantly as always: "

Mitt Romney knows how to treat America's sick economy with his business experience.

("The Business End", June 9, 2011)

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - The Business End
www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

Video Archive

HIS PLANS/POLICIES

• He's full of lies and vagueness: 
• Romney himself said in March, his budget plan “can’t be scored” and is missing key details about which deductions it would eliminate. Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan failed to answer the same question a day earlier, telling Fox News’ Brit Hume, “I don’t know exactly what the balance is. I don’t want to get wonky on you, but we haven’t run the numbers on that specific plan.” In sum, Romney’s plan is “mathematically impossible.”
• The Romney budget requires even harsher cuts in entitlement programs than Ryan’s radical House-endorsed plan. Ten-year cuts in spending would range from one-third deeper than those in the Ryan budget to almost twice as deep as the Ryan cuts, with potentially disastrous consequences for low-income and middle class Americans — including taking food stamps away from as many as 13 million people.
• (from ThinkProgress 8/15/2012: Romney Adviser 'Embarrassed' He Doesn't Know When Romney Would Balance Budget, But Shouldn't Be | ThinkProgress - http://bit.ly/RXaz4o )
• Analysis: Romney tax plan strongly favors the rich - Political Hotsheet - CBS News (3/12/2012)- http://goo.gl/bWkgd
• Greg Sargent, Washington Post: "Yup: Mitt Romney's own plan would cut billions from cops, firefighters & teachers, a new analysis finds" ( 6/13/2012) http://wapo.st/LTUSV2
• What’s getting lost in the back and forth here is that Romney’s actual economic plan would, in fact, cut billions of dollars in federal money that goes to cops, firefighters, and teachers — perhaps more than $10 billion a year, in fact.

MITT'S "JOBS"/ECONOMY RECORD

• Biz whiz? Small government? Romney took a record level of taxpayer money to run the 2002 Winter Olympic Games — Keeping GOP Honest (2/2012)
• Mitt Romney - Op-Ed Contributor - Let Detroit Go Bankrupt - NYTimes.com (2008)
• Romney’s Firm Instructs American Airlines to Sack 13,000Workers | Addicting Info (2/5/2012) 
• On Wednesday, February 1st, American Airlines announced that it will take the advice of Mitt Romney’s firm, Bain Capital, and lay off 13,000 workers -15 percent of its workforce- replacing their pension plans with 401(k) plans and ending company-paid retiree healthcare.
• Think Progress, MA Economy Was ‘Below Avg, Often Near Bottom’ During Romney’s Time As Gov. (2/2012)

• As Massachusetts governor, Romney’s record on jobs was unremarkable (2/2012) The Washington Post 
• Political Animal - Romney: U.S. economy ‘getting better’ under Obama (1/23/2012) --good read, short
• Romney Dissed Neighborhood Where He Is Now Highlighting Business Record - BuzzFeed (7/19/2012) http://goo.gl/Lge4K

 {More on Mitt, after the flip!}

Austerity Now!

"Obama's out of control SPENDING is what's killing our economy!" / CUTS!! 
 -- click here for other posts with info/links on economy --

• Dave Johnson: Austeridiocy: Budget Cuts Take Money Out Of The Economy (8/12/2011)- http://goo.gl/qZqTx
• Cuts Only Shift Costs, They Don’t Cut Costs: The things government does have to be done, and cutting government doesn’t get rid of the need, it just shifts the costs. Cutting government budgets only shifts the cost away from the wealthier taxpayers who were asked to pitch in and give back to the system that enabled their wealth. It removes the “take care of and watch out for each other” concept of democracy and puts the costs on the backs of vulnerable individuals. Cutting government doesn’t remove the costs from the larger economy, and often increases the costs to the larger economy.
• Adios Austerity! E.U. Admits Right Wing Policy Of Punishing The Poor Has Failed (VIDEO) | Addicting Info (1/31/2012) 
• Paul Krugman - Truthout "Changing Minds, But Not Policy" (Aug 28, 2012) http://bit.ly/OnZvth 
• "Many of the British economists who called for austerity in 2010 now think the UK needs a stimulus. If only they'd admit austerity was a bad idea from day one, says Paul Krugman."
• The New Statesman magazine had a good idea this month — it went to 20 British economists who had all signed a letter in early 2010 calling for immediate austerity and asked them whether they still supported George Osborne's policies now that Britain is in a double-dip recession. Only one of those who replied said yes, while nine urged Mr. Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, to reconsider his opposition to stimulus. Good on them."
• "...Mr. Laffer's extraordinary assertion [in WSJ] that Estonia and Ireland are the leading examples of failed stimulus [THEY'RE NOT: THEY"RE LEADING EXAMPLES OF FAILED AUSTERITY]: "Of the 34 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations, those with the largest spending spurts from 2007 to 2009 saw the least growth in G.D.P. rates before and after the stimulus," he wrote. "The four nations — Estonia, Ireland, the Slovak Republic and Finland — with the biggest stimulus programs had the steepest declines in growth." Weren't Estonia and Ireland supposed to be heroes of austerity? How incompetent do you have to be not to get that story straight? But then, it's become clear that The Wall Street Journal and the right in general have spent so long prioritizing loyalty over competence that they don't even notice when they're using people known for being wrong as supposed experts."
• Krugman blog: Ireland the Model - NYTimes.com (Dec 2010) http://nyti.ms/hKZRaC
• Quotes from 2006: Ireland stands as a shining example of the art of the possible in long-term economic policymaking [AUSTERITY].
• Krugman - America Goes Dark - NYTimes.com  ( What we're sacrificing for the top 2% - Aug '10) 
• Krugman (column) - The Austerity Debacle. - NYTimes.com (1/30/2012)  
• Krugman - Austerity Memories - NYTimes.com (1/28/2012) -- as MarKos writes, "Oh those funny economists who said austerity would lead to recession! Of course, they were right"

• Paul Krugman - Destructive Austerity, USA - NYTimes.com (1/29/2012) 
• The Austerity Delusion: The IMF's latest forecast: Perverse austerity | The Economist (IMF finds austerity could be making European crisis worse) (1/24/2012) 
• wonkronk: Poll: Americans Favor Social Security, Medicare Over Deficit Reduction (July 2011) 
• Deficit Solution: Get Americans Back To Work : NPR (May 9, 2011) 
• ThinkProgress » House Republican Spending Cuts Target Programs For Children And Pregnant Women (2/2011) 
• Goldman Sachs: Republican Budget Cuts to Slow Economy | Politically Illustrated (2/2011) 

It's the Economy, Stupid

from: Doing the math on Obama’s deficits - Washington Post (2/1/2012) 

Obama’s and Bush’s effects on the deficit in one graph  

The Crap Economy: Whom/What Do Voters Blame?

You'd think--given the media and Republican babble--that the Republican victories on Nov 2 2010 = "repudiation of Barack Obama" and in particular his handling of the economy.

That would be a very confusing repudiation.  As I noted earlier--voters do NOT want what Republicans have been hawking as economic fixes (tax cuts, hate the stimulus).

And it seems like Barack Obama is not even at the top of voters' "Who to Blame" list: he ranks 3rd--
after "Wall Street" and "George W. Bush".

Fuller information here.

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2012 Update: The economy? It’s still Bush’s fault - The Washington Post (1/18/2012) -- A majority of Americans believe that former President George W. Bush is more responsible than President Obama for the current economic problems in the country, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.