The 2012 presidential election has been a very strange one for me. My first inclination was that Obama hasn’t done enough to earn an second term in office. But then I thought back to when he was elected, and what he was inheriting as far as the economy, etc. and I remember saying that he may need more than 4 years to get the job done.
Basing my opinion on the job done so far by Obama, I started giving the Republicans a chance. The problem for me is that I don’t like Mitt Romney. He wasn’t good enough to run for President in 2008, but all of a sudden he’s the answer in 2012? Also I don’t like Paul Ryan–I just don’t believe a word he says. For me, that’s the one main trait he shares with Romney.
I wonder if Obama’s daughters will ever be part of the unemployment % if the U.S. in their lifetimes.
Now we come to the DNC, and I’m not going to lie–I’d rather change the rules to give Bill Clinton a 3rd term than to elect Obama again. Since that’s not possible, I watched Obama’s speech and gave him the benefit of the doubt on the job he’s done thus far.
The problem with that is that he slick-talked me into voting for him in 2008. I believed in change, and I voted for it. We didn’t get that change over the first 3 and a half years, but will we if we give him 8 years? Or is he going to do it to me again?
You know the saying: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool we twice? Shame on me. That applies here, especially since there was one glaring omission from Obama’s DNC speech last night: The monthly Jobs Report!
The Jobs Report is issued on the first Friday of each month at 8am, but the President and selected individuals from his administration get to see it on Thursday night. If it was a glowing, positive job report, Obama definitely would have found a way to work it into his speech: The fact that he didn’t mention it once made me worried about what that job report would say.
And I was right to worry. Here are a few of the highlights:
- Only 96,000 American jobs were added in August
- But 368,000 left the workforce, which means?
- Labor market participation down to its lowest level in 31 years.
Yet the Unemployment Rate WENT DOWN, from 8.2% to 8.1%. How is this possible? Because of those 368,000 left the workforce. Which means that even though these people are unemployed, out of work, and have no prospects for earning money, the U.S. government stops counting them in the unemployment rate.
If I were the President, with these job numbers, I wouldn’t have mentioned the economy or job growth as a positive in my DNC speech.
If so many hadn’t left the workforce, unemployment would have crept up from 8.2% to 8.4%. That’s convenient…not counting UNEMPLOYED people in the UNEMPLOYMENT RATE.
Want another horrifying number to look at? “The number of Americans whom the U.S. Department of Labor counted as ‘not in the civilian labor force’ in August hit a record high of 88,921,000.” Yes, almost 89 million people are jobless in America.
Also: “The Bureau of Labor Statistic also reported that in August the labor force participation rate (the percentage of the people in the civilian population who either had a job or were actively looking for one) dropped to a 30-year low of 63.5 percent. The last time the labor force participation rate was as low as 63.5 percent was in September 1981.
You can find some more news on this topic and other economic happenings related to the job report here, here, and here.
Just remember America: In politics, half-truths and misrepresentations of the facts count just as much as the truth. It’s up to us to make sure we understand what is going on.
And just so you know, I know how the old proverb goes: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Our ex-President George W. however, doesn’t remember it quite the same.
Straight Bullshit 
Do you actually believe we would be better off today if McCain/Palin had won in 2008? Secondarily, no President has the power to order the CEO, COO, CFO of a company to bring all the jobs they outsourced back into this country. But at least President Obama is trying, by tossing out the idea of tax breaks for in country jobs, and increasing taxes on those who continue to outsource.
The only jobs left are the ones which literally cannot be sent overseas (nurses, firefighters, police, teachers, garbage men, postal workers. Hell they’d probably outsource pizza delivery guys, if they could find a way to do it.)
We have become a society of consumers unable to consume, because we don’t make the money needed to consume, thanks to all of the jobs disappearing, and with those lost jobs, the money earned doing them.
So I ask again, given the options, do you think McCain could have done any better? And Romney *rolls eyes* I shiver at the thought… The man literally has no concept of what it truly means to live a life on $45k a year. He has no concept of “wanting” for anything. Unless it’s another shiny new toy, like another car, plane, boat or $5 million cabin in Sun Valley Idaho which he can ski in and out from.
Just for the record, I grew up in that same environment, I know of what I speak, when it comes to the highly affluent (old money.) They really could not care any less about the struggles which impact the average American.
Another great comment N. I don’t believe we’d be better off if McCain/Palin won. No offense to Sarah Palin, but she was brought in as a publicity stunt and had no business being considered for the office of VP.
I come from a different background than you. I’ve had trouble finding work during Obama’s administration, because as you say…the only jobs left are pizza delivery jobs and manual labor. I’m struggling through his time as president, so my my review of his job performance so far is effected by that. Maybe his policies need more time, maybe they’ll prove out over 8 years.
And I fully believe that rich people don’t care about the struggles of average Americans. Why should they? Are society is all about getting yours, even at the expense of others.