Night one of the Democratic National Convention was
electrifying. Guest after guest gave
riveting speeches; the best of which were by current Massachusetts Governor
Deval Patrick and First Lady Michelle Obama.
The former reminded me of why I tend to vote Democrat; the latter was
about as poignant a speech as I’ve ever heard a spouse give for her
husband. While historically the speeches
made by the wives of presidential candidates aren’t all that important or decisive
with respect to voters, it was hard not to be moved by this one. She rocked the joint.
But my fair o’ meter was going into the red on a familiar
theme that virtually all the speakers hit upon.
No it wasn’t the plug and play for the Affordable Care Act – it’s about
time someone in the Party acknowledged it publicly. What got me going was the
claim that Barack Obama was responsible for the creation of 4.5 million private
sector jobs during his presidency.
You see, there’s just one little, tiny problem with that
claim: it isn’t true, at least not entirely.
While it is true that from
January 2010 thru July 2012, the economy did add over 4.5 million jobs, 2009 saw
huge job losses in the private sector.
According to CNN, the economy has netted only 300,000 private
sector jobs to date during Obama’s first term in office. When you factor in the shedding of public
sector jobs – nearly one million – into the equation, the overall picture looks
a lot bleaker. Add it up and it comes to
a net loss of 400,000 jobs since he was sworn in. Brutal.
And while it is
fair to say that most of that first year was owed to the failed policies of
George Bush, it isn’t fair, or accurate for that matter, to cherry pick the
last two and a half years and infer that it represents a full term. That’s the kind of shit Fox News does on a
regular basis and it’s what the Republicans pretty much did all last week at
their convention. There’s no place for
it, especially when you consider that even allowing for 2009’s job losses, the
worst first year for a sitting president since 1933, if the current trend of
private sector job creation over the last two and a half years is maintained
through the end of the year, Obama will still beat out Bush for average annual
job growth in his first term: 0.84% to 0.51%.
Never add to the truth, especially when the truth will work
just fine.
Link: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/fact-check-4-5-million-jobs-created-under-175621036--election.html
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