Posts Tagged ‘bill’

Blame Bush for the Recession, Not Obama

Posted on: August 13th, 2009 by Kyle. | No Comments

As the townhall protests extend through August, many of the protesters are aiming their anger at a man that had nothing to do with the economic woes that the country now faces today. The policies of the Bush administration got us to the point where we have nearly 10% unemployment, an over trillion dollar deficit and “bailouts” to banks on Wall Street. President Obama inherited this mess and has been trying to dig us out ever since he took the oath of office.

By the way, Obama’s policies are working. The GDP fell by only 1% in the second quarter compared to over 6% in the first quarter of 2009. Most economists believe that the country will see growth in the 3rd quarter of 2009 (July to September). The stimulus did what it was intended for: it slowed the recession, saved jobs that would have been otherwise lost and invested in our country’s economy through infrastructure projects, green jobs and the largest tax cut in American history.

Even (some) Republicans understand. Conservative economist Bruce Bartlett laid out the facts in an article for the Daily Beast:

• Between the fourth quarter of 1992 and the fourth quarter of 2000, real GDP grew 34.7 percent. Between the fourth quarter of 2000 and the fourth quarter of 2008, it grew 15.9 percent, less than half as much.

• Between the fourth quarter of 1992 and the fourth quarter of 2000, real gross private domestic investment almost doubled. By the fourth quarter of 2008, real investment was 6.5 percent lower than it was when Bush was elected.

• Between December 1992 and December 2000, payroll employment increased by more than 23 million jobs, an increase of 21.1 percent. Between December 2000 and December 2008, it rose by a little more than 2.5 million, an increase of 1.9 percent. In short, about 10 percent as many jobs were created on Bush’s watch as were created on Clinton’s.

• During the Bush years, conservative economists often dismissed the dismal performance of the economy by pointing to a rising stock market. But the stock market was lackluster during the Bush years, especially compared to the previous eight. Between December 1992 and December 2000, the S&P 500 Index more than doubled. Between December 2000 and December 2008, it fell 34 percent. People would have been better off putting all their investments into cash under a mattress the day Bush took office.

• Finally, conservatives have an absurdly unjustified view that Republicans have a better record on federal finances. It is well-known that Clinton left office with a budget surplus and Bush left with the largest deficit in history. Less well-known is Clinton’s cutting of spending on his watch, reducing federal outlays from 22.1 percent of GDP to 18.4 percent of GDP. Bush, by contrast, increased spending to 20.9 percent of GDP. Clinton abolished a federal entitlement program, Welfare, for the first time in American history, while Bush established a new one for prescription drugs.

Recovery.gov Launches

Posted on: February 18th, 2009 by Kyle. | No Comments

You can now track where your stimulus dollars are going. The Obama administration has just launched a website that will allow you to keep track of where the money in the recently passed stimulus bill is going. According to the administration they will update it to allow taxpayers to drill down to specific projects in their own area. Just another example of an open government under President Obama.

Recovery. gov

The Primary to End All Primaries

Posted on: April 28th, 2008 by Kyle. | No Comments

The race for the Democratic nomination is coming to a close. As the likely nominee, Barack Obama leads in every possible metric: popular vote, delegate count, number of states won, number of primaries won, and number of caucuses won. World War I was dubbed “The War to End All Wars”. Indiana is shaping up to be the “Primary to End All Primaries”… at least for the 2008 election season.

The reason I say that is because without the states of Indiana and North Carolina, it is not possible for Hillary Clinton to catch up in either the delegate count (for which she trails him by roughly 150 elected delegates) or the popular vote (which he leads by 500,000). If the polls are any indication, Hillary is looking to lose North Carolina by upwards of 150,000, which will erase the gains she made from winning Pennsylvania.

As such, Indiana is seen as a “tie-breaker”. No matter the outcome of the Indiana primary, Obama will lead in the popular vote and delegate count. Indiana and North Carolina (the 15^th largest and 10^th largest states, respectively) are the last major states to vote. After these two primaries on May 6, there are only small states with comparatively low populations: Kentucky (26^th), Oregon (27^th), West Virginia (37^th), Montana (44^th) and South Dakota (46^th). Obama is favored in the second largest of these, Oregon, and the smallest two, Montana and South Dakota. Hillary will only gain a negligible amount of popular votes and delegates in these states.

Hillary’s last best hopes were in Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania. Winning Indiana is not sufficient enough to do much, considering Obama’s win in North Carolina will come from a slightly larger state and with a much higher percentage of the vote. However, the polls in Indiana have Obama up anyway. Four recent polls had Obama up between 1 and 5 percent. He even was beating John McCain, according to an Indianapolis Star poll, in a state that hasn’t voted for a Democrat since 1964!

There are several reasons why Obama should be favored to win Indiana. First, Obama has never lost a state that borders Illinois. He won Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri by varying amounts of 1% to 17%. The second advantage that he has in Indiana is the number of black voters and where they are concentrated. While the percentage is smaller than Ohio and Pennsylvania, they will remain a key component of any victory. The third Obama advantage comes from the most impressive part of his campaign: his ability to motivate young voters.

1. Chicago spill-over: The biggest advantage Obama has in Indiana is the spill-over affect of his homestate and border state, Illinois. Northwest Indiana is an extension of Chicago, included by the U.S. Census as part of the metropolitan area reaching from Wisconsin to Michigan City, Indiana in LaPorte County (three counties to the east of the Illinois border).

Obama should carry the three Chicago suburban counties of Lake (Gary, Hammond), Porter (Portage) and LaPorte (Michigan City, LaPorte) with heavy turnout from African Americans, young and liberal voters. The demographics in this part of the state favor him heavily, and should easily counter more rural (and less populated) areas that will favor Hillary. The Chicago media market has influence in this part of the state.

The fourth county that will undoubtedly be affected by Chicago influence is St. Joseph County. This includes South Bend, Mishawaka and Notre Dame. While St. Joseph County is not technically part of the Chicago metropolitan area (it is outside of it by about 30 miles), St. Joseph County is safely inside Chicago’s sphere of economic, media and political influence. Combined, these four “Chicago spill-over” counties of Indiana make up a full 1/6 of the state’s population at an approximately 1,006,000. St. Joseph County will also be included in two other Obama advantage regions detailed below.

2. The black vote: Since blacks are so heavily Democrat, they will make up a larger percent of the primary electorate than their overall percent of the state’s population. In other words, even though blacks make up roughly 12% of St. Joseph County, they will probably make up about 20% of the vote in the Democratic primary. Lake County, which includes Gary and Hammond, has a surprisingly low black population considering the stereotypes (although still significant). 25% of Lake County’s nearly 500,000 residents are African American. Marion County will be the single largest county where Obama will get his votes. 24% of its nearly 900,000 residents are African American.

3. College towns: Despite widespread belief that Indiana is a farm state, most of its 6.3 million residents live in cities and towns. It also has an above-average number of high school and college graduates in the United States. Many of these towns are lifted up by large numbers of college students from in and out of state, as well as international students. Again, this is an Obama advantage. Obama tends to do better in states where voters are more educated.

Obama will win the college towns of Bloomington (IU – 40,000 students), West Lafayette (Purdue – 40,000 students), Muncie (Ball State – 20,000 students), Indianapolis (Butler – 5,000 students; IUPUI – 30,000 students), and South Bend (Notre Dame – 12,000 students; IUSB – 7,500 students). Indiana also has an extensive community college system known as Ivy Tech which accounts for 110,000 students across 23 campuses.

ImageShack

Obama to Open South Bend Office

Posted on: March 24th, 2008 by Kyle. | No Comments

Indiana is proving to be a pivotal state in the race for president. While Senator Obama is largely expected to win North Carolina and Hillary is expected to win Pennsylvania, Indiana is seen as a battleground. As a result, Hillary and Bill Clinton have been touring the state for the past couple weeks. Hillary was in Southern Indiana Thursday and Bill was in South Bend for two events on Dyngus Day, the Monday after Easter Polish holiday celebrating the end of Lent. Not to be outdone in the state, Obama has visited Indianapolis and is promising to vigorously campaign throughout Indiana before the May 6 primary. To prove his devotion to winning the state, Obama is opening an office in South Bend, according to the South Bend Tribune.

SOUTH BEND — The campaign of presidential candidate Barack Obama will open an office in South Bend, and Obama will campaign “in every corner” of Indiana, according to information released today by the Obama campaign.

David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign director, said in a conference call today that a schedule of campaign stops is yet to be worked out, but that the Obama campaign will seek to establish a “heavy presence” in the state before its May 6 primary.

“It’s going to be a very important primary,” Plouffe said.

Former U.S. Rep. Tim Roemer, who is campaigning for Obama in Indiana, spoke at the conference call on the issues that matter to Hoosiers. He highlighted economic issues and national security.

Yes We Can!

Posted on: January 26th, 2008 by Kyle. | No Comments

Senator Barack Obama scored a historic win tonight in the Southern state of South Carolina. With 99% of precincts reporting, he currently holds a commanding lead of his chief rival, Senator Hillary Clinton. The former First Lady was hurt by the negative campaign tactics employed by her campaign and her husband. Their outright lies about Obama’s record and misquoting him evidently played a big factor into people’s votes. After 8 years of lies from the Bush administration, it is clear that Democratic voters do not want to replace George Bush with another administration of liars.

Obama – 55%

Hillary – 27%

Edwards – 18%

I am extremely proud that the state of South Carolina rebuked the negative campaigning of Bill Clinton. As I showed in the video I made earlier this week, the Clintons have been campaigning on fear. The Politics of Fear lost to the Politics of Hope tonight. And in a big way. While the Clintons undoubtedly will try to spin this 28% victory as a black man winning a black state, that same cynicism is the very reason they are in the predicament that they are in. They LOST nearly all white Iowa. They came within 3% of losing nearly all white New Hampshire. Two states with little diversity.

When we get to a state that has a lot of diversity, all of a sudden it doesn’t count? I don’t think so. That’s what the Democratic Party is about! We are the party of everyone – whites, blacks, Latinos, Muslims, Jews, Catholics, men, women, gays, the elderly and the young. This is not the Republican Party of old white men. If Hillary’s only strength is going to be among women and old people, how the heck does she expect to win in November against the Republicans? By the way, 61% of the voters today were women. That’s more than Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. If that wasn’t an advantage for Hillary, I don’t know what is.

Let me make my point this way: 290,000 people voted in the Democratic primaries in 2004. Barack Obama’s unofficial total is at 295,000 right now. It will go above 300,000 once all of the votes are counted. Barack Obama alone outperformed EVERY Democrat COMBINED from the 2004 primaries (John Kerry, John Edwards, Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich). The Democratic turnout for 2008 is nearly twice what it was in 2004. Something is happening, folks. Young people are turning out in record numbers, women are supporting a man over their own, and white people (in the South no less) are doing what no one thought possible. This is astonishing. America is finally changing for the better.

The good news is, you can be a part of it. February 5, 2008 is “Super Tuesday”, the closest thing we have ever had to a national primary. 22 states will vote on Super Tuesday, including mega states like California, Illinois and New York. If you live in one of these states, VOTE. Obama needs your support! This is not going to be an easy fight. The Clintons will throw everything and the kitchen sink at Obama to prevent him from winning. They want the White House. If you live in one of the states below, please get out on February 5 and support Obama:

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Georgia
Idaho (Democratic Party Only)
Illinois
Kansas (Democratic Party Only)
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Missouri
New Jersey
New Mexico (Democratic Party Only)
New York
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Utah