Politifact: President's record "accomplished in collaberation with congressional Republicans"

Last edited Tue May 29, 2012, 04:49 PM - Edit history (1)

Politifact evaluated Mitt Romney's claim that spending under Obama has "accelerated at a pace without precedent in recent history," finding the statement is wrong because it's actually risen "slower than at any time in nearly 60 years."

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/may/23/facebook-posts/viral-facebook-post-says-barack-obama-has-lowest-s/

What I found particularly interesting was the statement they made near the end of their evaluation that:

"The president is not all-powerful, so his record on spending was accomplished in collaboration with congressional Republicans."

I hope they keep this truth in mind (that Congressional Republicans do have an affect on what laws get passed in Washington .. especially given their recent extraordinary accomplishments in the area of filibustering) when they consider (if they ever do) the Republican statements that Obama is entirely responsible for the economy since he came into office.

The fact is when Obama tried to enact the first stimulus bill (ARRA) the Republicans demanded as the price of their cooperation, that about a third of the stimulus be converted to tax cuts. They knew that at the beginning of a recession tax cuts were going to be saved or used to pay down debt, rather than being spent. People who are concerned about whether they will have a job in six months are not inclined to spend any additional after tax income they get from a tax cut. Thus the stimulus was down sized by about 38%.

The Republicans have fought and filibustered every democratic effort to stimulate the economy and they have succeeded in reducing the stimulus efforts made by the President.

Yes. the President doesn't get just what he wants all the time especially with a disloyal opposition like the Republicans iin town.