It’s nice to see that despite being on vacation in Hawaii, the President can still carve out some time – between rounds of golf and snorkeling – to insult his political opponents. After all, nothing encourages bi-partisanship in the New Year like a little name calling and mudslinging. While enjoying his multi-million-dollar vacation (oh yeah… you and I paid for that) Mr. Obama decided to chastise Republicans for leaving DC without extending long-term unemployment.
The chutzpah! Via Whitehouse.gov: (Emphasis added)
Just a few days after Christmas, more than one million of our fellow Americans lost a vital economic lifeline – the temporary insurance that helps folks make ends meet while they look for a job. Republicans in Congress went home for the holidays and let that lifeline expire. And for many of their constituents who are unemployed through no fault of their own, that decision will leave them with no income at all.
Wow. And to think some of us consider roughly 1 ½ years of unemployment generous. Heck, after a year of not working, you’d almost think that a lack of income would become somewhat expected… But the vacationing President (did I mention that he traveled to Hawaii over the Holidays?) wasn’t done with a hypocritical stab at Congressional Republican’s Christmas schedule.
We make this promise to one another because it makes a difference to a mother who needs help feeding her kids while she’s looking for work; to a father who needs help paying the rent while learning the skills to get a new and better job. And denying families that security is just plain cruel.
Denying families extended benefits is just cruel… Well… He won me over. Let’s abolish any limits on unemployment! Maybe we should just guarantee everyone unlimited unemployment insurance! (Apparently there is no specific font-type for sarcasm… My apologies.)
What made Obama’s comments even more egregious (looking past the fact that our golf-loving President just blew a few million tax payer bucks for his “Mele Kalikimaka”) is his inability to recognize his culpability in the unemployment situation of America. Obama has overseen the worst economic “recovery” in history as the worst “jobs President” since the Great Depression.
It’s hard to escape the thought that long-term unemployment would be far less of an issue if our economic situation was – ya know – improving. From the Stimulus bill (remember the trillion dollars of sudden and “necessary” spending that we were told would immediately lower our unemployment rates?), to Obamacare (which greatly increases the financial burden of hiring new employees) the White House has repeatedly implemented policies that discourage economic vitality.
The President is trying to blame Republicans for the symptoms of his economic policies. Jobs, Mr. President, will do far more to cure the chronic unemployment that is rampant in America than a few more government unemployment checks. And jobs do not come from government programs, regulations, or higher taxes… They come from the private sector. The same private sector you have continually threatened with higher taxes, increased regulation, and increased government control.
But at least the million-plus Americans who have extinguished their unemployment insurance know there is a rich guy, on some golf course in Hawaii, who is willing to blame someone for their plight. I mean, heck… That’s almost as good as a job. Right?