Monty Newman
President Obama has been too wedded to the old-school liberalism of more regulation, more government control and higher taxes to keep his promises to the American people.
The Obama campaign has, at times, verged on the surreal. The campaign has touted an economic recovery that nobody in middle America sees in their everyday lives. At the same time, they have launched attacks on job creators in an effort to discredit Mitt Romney’s record as a businessman, a record that even Bill Clinton has praised as “sterling.”
It’s been a risky strategy, and it is not entirely surprising that it came crashing down on the Chicago operation’s head recently when the May jobs report confirmed what everyone else already knew — President Obama’s economic policies have failed. GDP growth is stalling and the unemployment rate is back on the rise. Even President Obama’s most ardent supporters are dismayed.
“The president who started off with such dazzle now seems incapable of stimulating either the economy or the voters. His campaign is offering Obama 2012 car magnets for a donation of $10; cat collars reading ‘I Meow for Michelle’ for $12; an Obama grill spatula for $40, and discounted hoodies and T-shirts. How the mighty have fallen.”
That is Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, and she concludes that President Obama is simply out of touch, “still finding himself, too absorbed to see what’s not working.”
One has to wonder how much the average, unemployed American cares about President Obama’s midlife crisis. He may need to “find himself,” but Americans want to find jobs. They don’t have time for President Obama’s existential journey.
Simply put, Obama economics has failed. President Obama has been too wedded to the old-school liberalism of more regulation, more government control and higher taxes to keep his promises to the American people. President Obama is out of time and out of touch.
Fortunately, Mitt Romney may get a chance to set things right. He’s taken over failing enterprises and turned them around. That’s how he got that “sterling” reputation, and it’s just what this country needs.
Newman is chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico.