Obama airs economic message
Barack Obama plans to begin airing an unusually long TV spot today that tries to put the Wall Street crisis in the context of broader economic concerns -- and that tries to convince voters that he has the plan and principles to deal with them.
In the 2-minute message, Obama says the turmoil in the financial sector is only the latest problem -- along with 600,000 lost jobs this year, rising healthcare and other costs, stagnant wages, and other issues.
"This isn't a string of bad luck," he says into the camera.
Instead, he says, it's the result of flawed policies and mismanagement in Washington. "That's why we need change, real change," Obama declares.
He then lists much of his economic program: $1,000 tax cuts for the middle class, real regulations of financial institutions, controlling the influence of special interest lobbyists.
Obama ends the message with a call to "a new spirit of unity and shared responsibility to solve the problems.
Obama's campaign also issued a statement on his behalf about the Federal Reserve's $85 billion emergency loan to insurance giant AIG.
“The fact that we have reached a point where the Federal Reserve felt it had to take this unprecedented step with the American Insurance Group is the final verdict on the failed economic philosophy of the last eight years," Obama said in the statement. "While we do not know all the details of this arrangement, the Fed must ensure that the plan protects the families that count on insurance. It should bolster our economy's ability to create good-paying jobs and help working Americans pay their bills and save their money. It must not bail out the shareholders or management of AIG.
“This crisis serves as a stark reminder of the failures of crony capitalism and an economic philosophy that sees any regulation at all as unwise and unnecessary. It’s a philosophy that lets Washington lobbyists shred consumer protections and distort our economy so it works for the special interests instead of working people; a philosophy that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to the rest.
“Instead, the pain has trickled up – from the struggles of Main Street all the way up to the crises on Wall Street.
“Despite his eleventh hour conversion to the language of reform, Senator McCain has subscribed to this philosophy for twenty-six years in Washington and the events of this week have rendered it a colossal failure. It is time for a new economic strategy, guided by the principle that America prospers when all Americans prosper, where common-sense rules of the road ensure that competition is fair, open, and honest. That is the strategy I will pursue as President, and I will bring the change we need to restore confidence in our financial markets and strength to our economy.”
UPDATE: The Obama campaign just sent out an "updated" statement after the Republican National Committee pointed out that Obama's initial statement misnamed AIG as American Insurance Group instead of American International Group.
"How can Barack Obama claim to know economic fundamentals when he doesn’t even know what AIG is? This is the sort of economic naïveté that Americans cannot afford in a commander-in-chief," the RNC said.
More Obama stuff:
Obama’s Spectacular Failure as an Executive: Documented
Senator Barack Obama’s spectacular failure during his only known executive experience is now documented. We can read it for ourselves, however it is in a pdf format and as I attempted to upload it to this post, I got a “file corrupted’ message.
I’ve transcribed some highlights below, and you can view Parts 1 and 2 of the pdf here.
Background: Barack Obama was appointed Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a foundation designed to increase learning and personal achievement skills in chosen school programs. Weatherman terrorist, William Ayers, is thought to have had a major role in choosing the untried Obama for the COB position. Ayers was an ex-officio board member. Obama and Ayers presided over a very powerful political duo: the CAC headed by Obama and The Collaborative, co-chaired by Ayers. The Annenberg Foundation donated approximately $50 million and another $50-$60 million came from matching funds. Obama-Ayers spent all the funding before the Challenge was shut-down or morphed into another Foundation, without Obama. Here’s the documented failed results of about $110 million
How is Barack Obama going to reform institutions like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when he is one of the top recipients of their political donations? Listed below are the top 5 Senators for the time period of 1989-2008. Check out OpenSecrets web site if you don't believe me.
Keep in mind that Obama has only been in the Senate for a couple years and he's #3 on the list!!
Obama is part of the problem, not the solution.
Top Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008
1. Dodd, Christopher J (D-CT)
$133,900
2. Kerry, John (D-MA)
$111,000
3. Obama, Barack (D-IL)
$105,849
4. Clinton, Hillary (D-NY)
$75,550
5. Kanjorski, Paul E (D-PA)
$65,500
And thank you Massachusetts for giving us that sleezeball Barney Frank! He fought every attempt by Republicans to put strict regulations on Fannie several years ago after Obama advisor Frank Raines had looted it. Barney also tried to stop every investigation of Fannie. Barney is now one of the people most involved in solving a problem he created - how is that going to work?
Two of his top fundraisers/advisors: Raines and Johnson, were CEO at Fannie leading up to this. Johnson also was at Countrywide. You really think they had nothing to do with this mess? It's beyond naive to think Obama can/ would have/will do anything differently then any other politician. Such an empty vessel.
Obama is so much more qualified and ready to lead when it comes to the economy than McCain, that it's not even funny.
Geez, it surprises me that people still try to come with reasons that Barack Obama is secretly bad when McCain/Palin have said nothing but lies and have no positive solutions for the country other than continuing failed policies that threaten economic collapse and strain relations with our allies.
Google Frank Raines. He's the former CEO of Fannie Mae who was cited by the SEC and FHOC of cooking the books to pocket millions in bonuses. In June 2008, Wall Street Journal reported that Franklin Raines was one of several politicians who received below market rates loans at Countrywide Financial because the corporation considered the officeholders "FOA's"--"Friends of Angelo" (Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo). He received loans for over $3 million while CEO of Fannie Mae.
You will find out that Frank Raines is an official staff member for Barack Obama as an economic advisor.
This is what's known as an "October Surprise" but a month early.
Obama's run for the presidency is over.
Republicans have controlled the White House for the last 8 years and they've controlled both houses of Congress almost uninterrupted (save a 2 year period when the Dems gained a slim majority in the Senate) since 1994. That's almost 14 years in charge of the legislature and 8 years in the white house. We've SEEN what their policies look like and we've watched some of the foremost American financial institutions be toppled. We've watched as the American worker became more and more productive but takes home a much smaller pay check in real terms because CEOs are grabbing a much larger slice of the pie - and STILL their companies fold. Lehman's CEO got a $22M bonus in 2007!!! How CRAZY is that??
It is absolute insanity to continue to beat our heads against the wall the same way and ask why it continues to hurt. McCain represents more of the same. You don't have to love Obama, but if you've got a brain in your head, you've got to know that it can't POSSIBLY get any worse under new leadership than it's been under the current one. What does McCain offer??? He's already admitted he knows next to nothing about economics. Bush didn't know anything either and we were assured his advisors would man the ship well. Guess what - McCain's advisors are the same as Bush's and we've seen that this ship is sinking fast.
The fact that this election is even close shows how little time the average American spends thinking about the actual issues. Stop the insanity, please!!! No McCain!! Just NO.
Game over Barack.
Jim Johnson (was) and Frank Raines (is) an economic advisor to your campaign. Both were CEO's of Fannie Mae and received millions in salaries and bonuses while deliberately hiding that institution's true financial state. The SEC proved it. The WSJ reported it.
You blew it Barack! You freakin BLEW IT !!!
Key Obama advisor Jim Johnson, a former chairman of Fannie Mae, quit in June on revelations that he had received a sweetheart loan from Countrywide. Many members of Congress also got cozy deals.
Bill Clinton’s former budget director and current Obama advisor Franklin Raines, who served as chairman and CEO of Fannie from 1999 to 2004, pocketed $52 million in pay and bonuses while at the helm. No surprise that Fannie’s earnings were overstated by nearly 50% during that time, and subsequently had to be “restated” downwards by $3 billion.
Then there’s Obama supporter Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who served on Freddie Mac’s board after leaving the Clinton White House. There’s a lot of taint around Obama from Fannie and Freddie.
An Obama White House and a Democratic Congress thus are likely to be more focused on keeping their names out of the news than enacting real reform.
Obama is so much more qualified and ready to lead when it comes to the economy than McCain, that it's not even funny.
NOW THATS FUNNY LOLOL
Obama is about spending.
$18,000,000,000 education
65,000,000,000 health
20,000,000,000 housing
150,000,000,000 global warming
AND
$845,000,000,00 on UN Millennial Goals
Can we, the taxpayers, afford this?
NO!
And check out Austan Goolsbee, Obama's senior economic advisor, who wants to privatize social security. Things are not what they seem with Obama. He says what he thinks people want to hear.
Obama is a marxist. Redistribution.
So - the RNC has nothing better to do than pound on Obama for not knowing the full name of the AIG company? Come on! Republican smear tactics worthy of the CREEP days of Richard Nixon are back again. Hey Republicans holding the pot -- meet kettle!
Hmmm, in this story, Obama airs a message. In the related McCain story, McCain "struggles to find the sweet spot."
Unbiased reporting . . . right . . .
Sad, really, the desperate and high-pitched squawking of the wingnut parrots. You 've opposed every regulation of the financial markets known to man in the name of "free enterprise" and "trickle-down" economics. It failed, big time. So big, it may have started another Depression.
But you still oppose regulation, thinking somehow that toadying to bank presidents makes you feel important. Fine. So come out and argue that we shouldn't make CDSs trade on exchanges, or that IBs don't need more oversight. Instead you snip and yap in a way that embarrasses everyone. Do you write Obama's name on your notebook and cross it out really hard? Why do Republicans always sound so girlish?
Reading all of these wildly irrelevant comments from desperate McCain supporters is an excellent way to bring some amusement into your day.
Way to hammer it home, Barack. It's about time you stated plainly, clearly, and specifically how your policies will affect the AVERAGE American, and how all of this GOP hysteria over "tax hikes" is completely unfounded for the 99% of us that happen to make less than $250k / year... yes indeed, our taxes will actually go DOWN. So now we can be reasonably certain of the ignorance (or deceptiveness) of anyone who claims that Obama's solution consists only of "talk and taxes."
*Ahem*
McCain's top economic adviser, Carly Fiorina, used to be the Chairman and CEO of HP. She spearheaded the HP/Compaq merger, which led to her being dismissed as Chairman of the Board and CEO, and which put HP on the road to where it is now: laying off 20,000+ workers.
With friends like these (Raines... Johnson).. who needs enemies...
Obama is his own worst enemy....
Keep it coming...... more votes for McCain from Independents such as myself!
Wow, I'm astounded. A candidate actually talking about issues?
PLEASE DON'T READ THE REPUBLICAN SPIN HERE! That means the people with phony names - which seem to echo their party's lying, scheming tactics.
These republican plants are just posting what their campaign supervisors tell them to post. The only real comments on here are obviously the ones posted by people who understand the real issues. Obviously if you vote for McCain/Palin you've decided that George Bush did a great job and you want more of the same. Well, I don't know about you but I would prefer to go in a different direction. The reality is that Bush did not do a good job and McCain votes with him 90% percent of the time. I mean can you imagine McCain & Palin in the White House? Think about that for a moment. Not too pretty huh? VOTE OBAMA!!! It's time to kick McBush out of Washington!
It's funny that Dr. Weinstein thinks Obama supporters are the only ones that understand the real issues.... I think its more appropriate to say degenerates support Obama. Work for yourself and your career, its much more fulfilling than looking for others to support you.
With friends like these (Raines
With supporters like you, Kimberly, it's clear McCain has the gullible, low-information vote all locked up.
You do know that Rains was hired by HW Bush, don't you? That he committed all these "indiscretions" investigated by the SEC during the presidency of GW Bush, who kept him on for almost four years--don't you?
Don't you?
Oh, dear.
Marcus, you -do- realize that John McCain is running for president, right? Not someone named Bush? And that if there's one person who despises Bush II more than the moonbats, it's John McCain? Remember the push poll in South Carolina in 2000?
You might want to try arguing -for- Obama rather than -against- Bush, because your side isn't running against Bush this time around. It's running against McCain. Methinks you're running against Bush because, well, that's all you have . . . "change," in and of itself, is empty feel-good rhetoric.
Old Scratch - are you dense? The other poster was trying to tie Raines to Obama. Marcus pointed out that Raines was HIRED by HW Bush and committed all of his discretions on HW Bush's watch. Isn't the fact that the Republicans, in scandals from Watergate to Keating Five to Abramoff have absolutely no credibility as reformers relevant? McCain's top 7 campaign advisors are all also top lobbyiests. The idea that McCain the "Maverick" has somehow convinced people that he has divorced himself from special interests is absolutely ridiculous. People who buy that garbage are divorced from reality period.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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