jackie wants to forget how we got here.
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says he expects to be held accountable by people who can't find jobs, but he contends that voters will remember who caused the economic mess in the first place – and it wasn't him.
Americans, Obama said Thursday, don't have a "selective memory."
"They're going remember the policies that got us into this mess as well," Obama said, referring to the previous Republican administration. "And they sure as heck don't want to go back to those."
The president made the comments in an interview with NBC News after touring the site of a future electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan that got money from last year's economic stimulus bill.
Obama has been trying to convince gloomy voters that despite near double-digit unemployment nationwide, the situation would be even worse without the $862 billion stimulus law that's created jobs around the country.
"It's hard because you don't see immediate gratification," the president acknowledged Thursday. He said his message to people out of work was that his administration was doing everything possible to create an environment in which private sector jobs could expand.
"But I'm not any more satisfied than they are," Obama said. "And until they can find a job, I expect to be held accountable."
Obama emphasized Democrats' emerging campaign theme heading into November elections in which the party could take a beating: The election will be a "choice between the policies that got us into this mess and my policies that are getting us out of this mess," he said. Polls show he has work to do to make the message take hold.
Obama also defended going around the Senate to appoint a new head of Medicare and Medicaid. The so-called recess appointment of Donald Berwick has drawn scathing criticism from Republicans, and even some griping from Democrats who thought Berwick should have been put through the standard Senate confirmation process.
Story continues below"The fact of the matter is that I can't play political games with the Senate on these issues," Obama said. "I've got a government to run."
On a lighter note, Obama disclosed his elder daughter Malia's summer vacation plans: the 12-year-old will be spending a month at camp, something she's never done.
As for his own summer plans, Obama was coy. If past practice holds, the first family will go to Martha's Vineyard, but the president and his staff are now regularly getting asked whether they might go to the Gulf Coast, as Obama's been urging other Americans to do.
"We're going to be trying to figure out where we're going to be able to take some time over the course of the summer," said Obama.
jackie wants to forget how we got here.
Unemployment since Dems took congress
Unemployment since Barry to over
Unemployment since Barry past stimulus
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No you don't get jack. The 750,00 jobs lost in January of 2009 are on Obama and the dem congress. They were expected to turn the economy around in a couple of months when it took 8 yeasr to get there. Seems reasonable to me..
jackie wants to get there without taking the steps. har har
hey genius if you are telling us the graphs represent the stimulus, shouldn't they indicate the change from the time it was passed?
So clarify something for me, is it the fault of congress or the president when the economy hits the skids?
Expect another drop next month. Barrys 600,000 census workers will be looking for jobs.
LOL@ shovel-ready jobs!
I can't figure out why the economy didn't turn on a dime.. you know like one of those running backs who can change direction mid stride...! Of course jack still claims the stimulus didn't work and that Obama was the first politician ever to not live up to all of his campaign promises so what do we expect..
Did Obama hire the census workers? Did he do the interviews?
hey dummy by the time election rolls around the economy will be a little better..keep hope alive that it continues to get worse!
jackie should be given his own forum to discuss oil. har har
Neither can Barry. He said unemployment wouldn't rise above 8 percent if the stimulus was passed but it did. He said he wouldn't allow earmarks but over 8,000 of them were in this shovel-ready bill.
These are not claims, the stimulus didn't work. You saying Obama was not the first politician to live up to his billing is a lame excuse for his failures but atleast you are now admitting he is a failure. Good for you.
Unemployment is going down and will contiue to do so.. sorry jack as much as you want things to get worse they won't...
I question that the actual number of people without jobs is actually going down. That unemployment figure is a manipulated number. Moving people into the "gave up on looking for a job" category so you don't have to count them as unemployed is totally bogus.
Sad that you think americans want umemployment to keep rising for an election. It's actually really pathetic of you.
You feel smart asking these questions. It makes you look ing stupid. Can't you see that. Obama is the boss of the director of the Census.
I agree with you but I seem to remember the bush defenders never mentioned this class of unemployed. Now those same folks ,that were silent, all of a sudden feel this it is imprtant to keep repeating this over and over again..
so then you're happy that the economy is rebounding.. great! so Obama deserves some credit..
Come on Cosmic. We already know that's how Anthropogenic Global warming is proved. Unrelated causes and effects.
You come in here spewing bogus bull numbers and get called on it and you turn it around to "Well, you didn't say anything about Bush?"
Get that weak ass out of here...![]()
Care to quantify that, GGA?
It's not intuitively clear to this wino.
Hey dummy the numbers weren't mine..god you're an idiot..![]()
I am talking about the economic growth aspect or the 4th consecutive qtr It would be nice to see unemployment recede but overall the economy is getting better.
and you said...
Unemployment is going down and will contiue to do so.. sorry jack as much as you want things to get worse they won't...
it has been going down dumbass..jesus you're stupid.
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