Right Change: Obama’s Lackluster Ohio Speech

Yesterday in Ohio President Obama delivered a campaign speech in Cleveland, Ohio about the economy. This speech was classic Obama, well spoken, well written (albeit LONG) and full of inspiring rhetoric. However, there is something that makes this speech different: we’re not buying it anymore.

Is it possible that this country is tired of the flowery language our orator President became famous for back in 2008? Judging from responses, including the following tweets which are just a few from a large sampling of 140 character journalist opinions, the answer is yes.

I ask colleague for CQ transcript of Obama speech. Response: "Sure, but it looks like they only have the first 45,000 words."

— Olivier Knox (@OKnox) June 14, 2012

Closing the whole "was this a State of the Union?" loop, Obama campaign sends out surrogate approval statements (14 and counting)

— Olivier Knox (@OKnox) June 14, 2012

Just cheerleading BO doesn't help him. He needs a sharper, more cogent message with some memorable lines. I ain't walking my criticism back

— Jonathan Alter (@jonathanalter) June 14, 2012

But Oliver Knox and Jonathan Alter aren’t the only people who took issue with Obama’s speech. NPR had some facts they wanted to check up on in a recent article and so did we.

First, the claim that it usually takes “countries up to ten years to recover from financial crises of this magnitude.” Implying that we are doing well, considering, the President said “We acted fast. Our economy started growing again six months after I took office.” Hold up. The average real quarterly GDP growth in the two years coming out of the 6 most recent postwar recessions was 6.2%. Our “fact acting” 2.4% growth under Obama has been a mere 39% of this historical average. Bottom line: historical data proves the opposite of what President Obama claimed to be true; the deeper the recession, the stronger the recovery. And what’s more, the President’s allegation that the economy began growing 6 months after the start of Obama’s term and hasn’t stopped since is shaky at best. The employment rate at the date Obama cites, 6 months after he took office, was 59.3%. Today the employment rate is at 58.6%. That doesn’t look like improvement to us.

That’s not all. Obama also said “I have not seen a single independent analysis that says my opponent’s economic plan would actually reduce the deficit. Not one.” Google is not your friend in this case, Mr. President. A quick search will find plenty of articles saying just that. A quote from one such analysis by Richard Cloutier, director of research and a portfolio manager with Heritage Capital Management Inc. says the following:

“Tax cuts, when used properly, have stimulated the economy.”

Also, an article by Stephen Moore And Richard Vedder, the senior economics writer for The Wall Street Journal editorial page and a professor of economics at Ohio University and an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute respectively, stated the following:

“The only era in modern times that the budget has been in balance was in the late 1990s, when Republicans were in control of Congress. Taxes were not raised, and the capital gains tax rate was cut in 1997. The growth rate of federal spending was dramatically reduced from 1995-99, and the economy roared.”

One last allegation we had to raise an eyebrow at is this: “No, I don’t believe the government is the answer to all our problems.” After his comments last week pushing the problems of the private sector into the shadows and putting a spotlight on government, we’re pretty sure Obama believes that, or something very close to it. So, for next time, we can hope President Obama’s statements are, at the very least, a little more difficult to find holes in. Oh, and that they won’t last 54 minutes. Somebody get the hook. 

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