Quickly, because President Obama was supposed to speak about 30 minutes ago. My prediction of what he will say:
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| The Dow continued to fall even as Obama spoke - and afterward. |
2. We tried to stimulated the economy through federal spending, but did not spend enough. So even though we did end the recession, employment didn't get the boost it would have if we had stimulated the economy even more than we did.
3. The Tea Party has come to dominate American politics and had put a strait jacket around reasonable Republicans. The Tea Party doesn't understand how government works and just wants to slash spending, no matter who gets hurt and no matter how much the markets decline. The downgrade can be laid at their feet.
(He did not say this explicitly, but it was a clear implication, as many other commentators are saying today.)
4. The economy was harmed by events around the world over which we had no control, such as Japan's tsunami and unrest in the Middle East.
5. Standard and Poor's downgrade was based on a $2 trillion math error on its part and we are working to get S&P re-evaluate.
(l claim partial credit for this one, since Obama said explicitly that S&P's evaluation of America's creditworthiness was wrong.)
6. This is all the Republicans' fault.
(Again, not explicit but clearly implicit in his repetitions of the need for a "balanced" approach, trans., "more taxes," which the Republicans would not agree to.)
7. I am focusing like a laser beam on getting our credit rating restored.
8. I am focusing like a laser beam on strengthening the markets.
9. I am focusing like a laser beam on putting Americans back to work.
10. I am focusing like a laser beam on saying how much I am focusing like a laser beam. (Okay, kidding, he won't say this.)
11. It's not my fault.
(Obama simply dug in the same positions he has held all along and continued to present himself as something like an observer of events over the last 2-1/2 years.)
Six of 10 correct, not too bad.
Text of the remarks here.
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