In January, during his first cabinet meeting of the year, President Obama made a bold declaration about his intentions to bypass Congress in the New Year: He’s got a pen, and he’s got a phone, and he is not afraid to use them. During his weekly radio address Saturday, the President reiterated his intentions, saying he will act on his own to “create more jobs and opportunity for hardworking families,” if Republicans in Congress refuse to take the action he would like to see.
In the address, President Obama bragged about the long list of actions he has implemented this year without the help those pesky Republicans in Congress. Furthermore, he vowed to “take action on my own wherever I can” to “grow our economy from the middle out, not the top down; to give every American who works hard a chance to get ahead.”
Watch a portion of the speech below:
“He was bragging about all the executive orders he's done, which he said he would not do before he was elected,” Pat said on radio this morning.
Glenn found the President’s comments particularly disingenuous considering he has now been in office for five years and the economic turnaround he promised is nowhere in sight. Instead, President Obama wasted his first two years in office – during which he enjoyed control of both the House and Senate – pushing through the failure that is Obamacare, which has done more economic harm than good.
“It can't be George Bush's fault. You had control of Congress. You had ultimate control. You decided to put in a system that doesn't work. And it's made all of us much worse off because of healthcare,” Glenn explained. “You decided to put all eggs into that basket. You wanted to fundamental transform the United States of America. Well, you've done it. Congratulations. But that fundamental transformation, as we predicted, doesn't come with any job growth. It comes with job losses.”
Ultimately, as Stu explained, the President gives speeches like this, in which he talks about how a raise to the minimum wage could really make an impact, or a lengthening of unemployment benefits could stave off disaster, or one more executive action could right all the wrongs, but, in reality, big government progressives will never be able to solve the problem.
“I will say his rant kind of raises more questions,” Stu concluded. “Why only 20 executive orders? Why not 200? Why only 99 weeks [unemployment]? Why not 999 weeks? Why only $10.10 an hour? Why not $110 an hour?”
Front page image courtesy of the AP
