Uh-oh! MSM Scorekeepers Expose Obama
Posted on February 5, 2014
Two new reports from MSM-respected sources have proven to be very problematic for Team Obama.
On January 31, the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, located within the Department of State, released a long awaited report about the environmental impact of the Keystone Pipeline, a job-creating project that has been filibustered by the Obama Administration.
Here is how Liz Halloran from U.S. News and World Report summed it up:
“The long-awaited State Department report found that the pipeline, the fourth and last Keystone section, would not have a 'significant' effect on greenhouse gas emissions. Its assessment goes something like this: If Keystone XL doesn't get built, the oil extracted from Canada's tar sands will still be transported somehow — likely by rail — and have the same environmental effect.”
The President has been sitting on the Keystone decision for 5 years, knowing that if he made the decision to move forward, it would have an instant impact on job creation. Any fool would tell you that the Tar Sands in Canada are going to be turned into petroleum and that the oil would make its way to markets one way or another.
The choice was to either build a pipeline to make easier to transport it or have it transported by rail, which is probably more risky from an environmental standpoint. Building a pipeline is good for jobs, which is why the Labor movement strongly supports that approach.
But Obama has been sitting on this decision because he doesn’t want to alienate some of his biggest supporters.
The State Department has done him no favors with its latest report, but it has exposed how weak the President’s position is.
Talking about weak position, the Congressional Budget Office similarly lowered the boom on the President and his allies.
According to the Washington Post:
“More than 2 million Americans who would otherwise rely on a job for health insurance will quit working, reduce their hours or stop looking for employment because of new health benefits available under the Affordable Care Act, congressional budget analysts said Tuesday.”
The Post continued later in the story:
“The CBO predicts that the economy will have the equivalent of 2.3 million fewer full-time workers by 2021 as a result of the law — nearly three times previous estimates.”
The President’s people are trying to spin this as good news. The benefits of Obamacare are so terrific, the theory goes, that people don’t have to work.
And that is exactly the problem.
Under the Obama Presidency, we have the lowest labor participation rate in our nation since Jimmy Carter. And back when Jimmy Carter was President, it was much more common to have the wife stay at home while the husband worked. Now, increasingly, it is the other way around. Husbands are staying home while the wives work in bigger numbers every day.
The President has done nothing other than jawbone CEO's to deal with the problem of the long-term unemployed.
We have more people on food stamps and on disability than at any time in our nation’s history.
And now, under Obamacare, we make it easier for people to just quit their jobs and play video games at home.
There are two parts to solving the jobs problem in this country.
- First, you have to create a positive environment for economic growth that creates jobs.
- Second, you have to create conditions to compel people to go to work.
Let me let you in on a dirty little secret. There are a bunch of people in this country, who, given the opportunity, would rather not work at all. They come in all shapes and sizes, all colors and religions, and all genders.
If you make it easier for these folks to not work by making the welfare state a pretty comfortable place to live, well, then they probably aren’t going to break their backs to find a job.
That’s just the reality.
The Obama Administration has failed in both measures. They have failed to create a pro-jobs environment for our business community and they have made it mighty comfortable for some folks to stay on the public dole and stay out of work.
The State Department’s report exemplifies the first trend of an Administration not overly interested in job creation. And the CBO confirms the second trend, that Obamacare will make it easier for folks to not fully contribute to the American economy.
The scorekeepers have exposed this President’s true position on jobs.