Saved or created" has become the signature phrase for Barack Obama as he describes what his stimulus is doing for American jobs. His latest invocation came yesterday, when the president declared that the stimulus had already saved or created at least 150,000 American jobs -- and announced he was ramping up some of the stimulus spending so he could "save or create" an additional 600,000 jobs this summer. These numbers come in the context of an earlier Obama promise that his recovery plan will "save or create three to four million jobs over the next two years. Bill McGurn WSJ Opinion
I mentioned this a couple of days ago in a post. The real tragedy here is that I heard the President's ridiculous claim that he created and saved 150,000 jobs and will now step on the gas to create or save 600,000 jobs: but I did not hear anyone, anywhere in the regular old media question it or explain it.
No office of government measures a "saved" job.
They are made up out of thin air and until the press corp begins to ask tough questions (the networks and newspapers that are just about extinct anyway should be absolutely embarrassed - perhaps they are waiting for their own bailout, I'm not kidding) Americans will continue to support the President even though Americans seem to increasingly disagree with his policies. We need to wake up and smell the NAPAM one of these mornings. That's prosperity you smell burning away.
"You would think that any self-respecting White House press corps would show some of the same skepticism toward President Obama's jobs claims that they did toward President Bush's tax cuts," says Mr. Fratto. "But I'm still waiting."
Mr. Fratto was a colleague of McGurn's in the Bush administration, and as a senior member of the White House communications shop, he knows just how difficult it can be to deal with a press corps skeptical about presidential economic claims.
The press did their job in that case - they were skeptical and as it turned out, Bush did try to spin a bad situation into a better than reality situation. This is what we expect the press to do. Not so far during the Obama Presidency though.
It's like they are investors that fall in love with a stock. Any information contrary to the investment thesis is rationalized; the press have so much invested in this President, any information that may lead to a contrary conclusion is dismissed. Unbelievable. And the worst thing is that the White House knows it. That is why they are in such a hurry. They must rush things through before someone in the press catches on and grows a pair.
BERK
Recent Comments