Comments

You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name

Your e-mail (optional)

Website (optional)

	My Original Nic Pic-a-Nic Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Foto

Submit your comments on this article

Economy

Obama's New Year's resolution? Fix the economy

2011-01-02

US President Barack B.O. Obama has set his New Year's resolution high for 2011: repair the struggling economy.

Same resolution as last year and the year before. The man can't help stretching himself to his limit.

In his weekly radio and Internet address on Saturday, the vacationing president said recent data showed the economic recovery was gaining traction even as millions of Americans are still out of work.

"Our most important task now is to keep that recovery going," Obama said. "As president, that's my commitment to you: to do everything I can to make sure our economy is growing, creating jobs, and strengthening our middle class. That's my resolution for the coming year."

Walk back everything you've done the last two years, and that should do the trick, Mr. President. See how easy that is?

Unemployment of nearly 10 per cent and dissatisfaction with Obama's efforts to spur an economic recovery from the worst recession in decades helped fuel Republican victories in congressional elections in November.

Republicans will control the House of Representatives next year and Democrats will have a smaller majority in the Senate, a new political reality that will affect Obama's ability to push through his policy priorities.

The president, who forged a deal with Republicans to extend Bush-era tax cuts in the waning days of 2010, sought to strike a bipartisan note in his address.

"In a few days, a new Congress will form, with one house controlled by Democrats, and one house controlled by Republicans -- who now have a shared responsibility to move this country forward," he said.

"I'm willing to work with anyone of either party who's got a good idea and the commitment to see it through."

One area where Democrats and Republicans will be challenged to work together is on deficit and debt reduction.

Senator-elect Kelly Ayotte, a Republican from New Hampshire, said her party was ready to spearhead that effort.

"Congress must get serious about meaningful debt reduction," she said in the weekly Republican address.

"This isn't a Republican problem or a Democrat problem -- it's an American problem that will require tough decision-making from both parties. Republicans are ready to lead that fight."

Posted by:Fred

#17 You have to understand - to OBumbles shrinking the economy and wrecking it *is* 'fixing' it.

Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-01-02 23:20

#16 You want to fix the economy Mr. President? Then Get yourself and the fed gov't the f*ck outta the way.

Posted by: Broadhead6 2011-01-02 23:10

#15 Fix it like a dog, I reckon.

Between executive orders, the various and sundry czars and entrenched bureaucracies like the EPA, I think he's got a lot of tools for snipping the gonads out of this economy but good.

Posted by: eLarson 2011-01-02 20:23

#14 By my count this is the tenth time he's promised this, but I may have missed a few.

Posted by: CincinnatusChili 2011-01-02 19:51

#13 No president, this one, or any other possible one, has the power to 'fix' the economy. He could let up on his efforts to wreck it though. He could do some things to ameliorate the damage he and others have done, but he won't, if he runs true to form.
What is by far the most likely thing to happen is that the powers that be will continue kicking the can down the road, will continue to do business as usual until it is no longer possible to do so.
The most likely outcome of this will be an abrupt, USSR-like collapse.

Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-01-02 16:26

#12 Unfortunately, TW, it's NOT that simple.

Quite true, Old Patriot. Unfortunately, politics being the art of the possible, and President Obama still having veto power for the next two years... walking back Obamacare, the stimulus bill, allowing the banks to pay back TARP funds (those banks that can and those who want to), getting government out of Chrysler and GM... those would go a fair piece toward getting us to a place where we can actually deal with the underlying problems. Not that President Obama is likely to undo any of the things he's so proud of.

Posted by: trailing wife 2011-01-02 15:37

#11 Walk back everything you've done the last two years, and that should do the trick, Mr. President.
Unfortunately, TW, it's NOT that simple. We need to go all the way back to 1900, and begin cleaning house starting there. We're still doing things Woodrow Wilson put in place that hurt this nation. There are still great swaths of the nation being damaged by FDR's "New Deal" and LBJ's "Great Society". The re-invention of Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac into a welfare program began under Clinton.

We need to go all the way back to the founding fathers, and clean house of every law, every agency, every "regulation" that fails to meet the test of being in accord with our Constitution. There aren't enough "Tea Party" Republicans yet to actually do that and succeed, so we'll just have to keep hammering those that are there, and trying to increase their number with each election. The Tea Party should be recruiting new candidates to challenge both Democrats and RINOs NOW. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening. I hope, after the new year and the new session of Congress, they'll see the work ahead of them, and get to it.

Posted by: Old Patriot 2011-01-02 14:48

#10 The president, who forged a deal with Republicans to extend Bush-era tax cuts in the waning days of 2010, sought to strike a bipartisan note in his address.

"Work with me, you evil hostage-taking bastards" is not exactly bipartisan.

Posted by: Pappy 2011-01-02 14:43

#9 Well put Boeserker.

Posted by: Hellfish 2011-01-02 13:16

#8 I'm torn here
1. Lamppost, Rope, some assembly required.
2. "Write three letters".
Either will do.

Posted by: Redneck Jim 2011-01-02 11:20

#7 Better book cover from a while back.

Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-01-02 10:06

#6 "This isn't a Republican problem or a Democrat problem -- it's an American problem

As in....WE.... share the blame - and WE share the burden? Well, here's a news flash. I have NEVER betrayed the "American" worker by insisting for the past 20 years that everythiing I purchase was MADE IN CHINA! I NEVER voted to give the UAW bailouts or for failed "Cash for Klunkers" programs. I NEVER voted to give millions (over past decades) in taxpayer dollars to a racist, community organizing, thug organization named ACORN. I NEVER voted for education and work visas which flood our nation with potential 9/11 style terrorists, cheap labor, and illegals who refuse to return to their native lands. I NEVER decided everyone was entitled to homeownership regardless of thier ability to pay. I NEVER voted for a bloody financial bailout of Freddie and Fannie. I never insisted on 'making nice' with the Muslim world after 9/11 (as opposed to vaporizing Mecca). I NEVER voted to give citizenship to so-called "anchor babies" or to provide free healthcare to illegal aliens, thus strangling our nation's medical system. I NEVER voted for a costly 2500 page healthcare bill that nobody had read. I NEVER said it was "OK" for a president of the United States to remain in a costly state of .... celebrity VACATION! I NEVER looked the other way or voted in favour of SODOMIZING our military in order to gain votes from a potected segment of society. And the list could go on and on.

So Senator-elect Kelly Ayotte, who is this phueching WE "Americans" of which you speak?

Posted by: Besoeker 2011-01-02 06:07

#5 "Fix" like make sure it's dead?

Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-01-02 03:35

#4 He never learned that government is never, Ever a "FIX" for anything. You do not get to make the fix here, MR President. You get to help US to not collapse. I want a butcher knife in cuts to Government BS business. Rats and tunnels and crap.
Rid US of it.

Posted by: newc 2011-01-02 00:35

#3 We all might be better off if he started to work on his Final Four bracket instead.

Posted by: tu3031 2011-01-02 00:32

#2 Obama Brownshirts. Thankfully there's no indoctrination training funds

Posted by: Frank G 2011-01-02 00:26

#1 I wonder what his New Year's resolution would look like if there had been no shellacking.

Posted by: gorb 2011-01-02 00:10

00:00