Last week, President Obama traveled all the way to Racine, Wisconsin – a city suffering from 14 percent unemployment – and used his time there to talk about me. Of course, it’s easier for the president to attack Republicans than it is to come up with new excuses for his broken promises and failing policies. For someone who asked to be held to the highest standard, President Obama spends an awful lot of time making excuses and whining about others. The American people want leadership from the White House and a serious focus on job creation, not childish partisanship.
Instead, the President and Washington Democrats are doubling down on their ‘stimulus’ policies have been an even bigger failure than most people realize. I recently released a report called “Stuck on Stimulus,” which contains some eye-opening figures: while the national unemployment rate hovers near 10 percent, African American unemployment is now 16.5 percent and Hispanic unemployment is 12.5 percent.
The ‘stimulus’ focused on expanding government, not creating private-sector jobs. In fact, since February 2009, more than three million jobs have been lost in the private sector, but more than 400,000 federal government jobs have been added. That’s not a recipe for recovery, and the American people continue to ask: “Where are the jobs? ”
While the rest of the world seems dialed in on the need to rein in spending and impose fiscal discipline, the spending binge from Washington Democrats continues. Rather than face facts and make tough choices, they have chosen to cling cluelessly to their discredited ‘stimulus’ philosophy and have flat-out cancelled the federal budget for the first time in modern history at a time when a fiscal blueprint has never been more badly needed.
After yet another disappointing jobs report last Friday where we learned that our economy lost 125,000 jobs in the month of June, I released a new web video challenging President Obama to focus on Americans’ priorities. The video, entitled “What About The Country, Mr. President? ,” features questions that I posed to the President regarding jobs, spending, the financial meltdown, and the Gulf oil spill. It can be viewed HERE .
Our economy will ultimately recover, but it will do so because of the hard work and entrepreneurship of the American people, not more wasteful Washington spending. Republicans have proposed better solutions to cut spending now, help small businesses create jobs, and get our economy back on track. Less spending, more jobs – it’s that simple.