Tag: Pres. Obama

Let’s Do Math! Republicans, Please Grab a Pencil

Trish
Former Pres. George W. Bush on one of his many breaks, which often involved falling off a mountain bike, falling off a Segway, strumming a guitar while New Orleans drowned, and choking on pretzels.

The Obama family is on vacation. That means it’s time for Republicans and tea partiers to take a break from obstructing legislation, nomination approvals, and any other work in Congress (including suing the president for taking appropriate executive action to counter their inaction) to express ginned-up outrage that the people’s business won’t be done if the president takes a few days off.

It’s also time for the rest of us to do some math, based on figures researched by Politifact’s Truthometer:

  • Number of vacation days, in whole or part, enjoyed by Pres. Obama at this point in his term, which on July 20, 2014 happened to be exactly six years and seven months: 92
  • Number of vacation days, in whole or part, enjoyed by Pres. George W. Bush at the same point in his term: 367

Let’s put these numbers in context.

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Republicans’ Irrational Hatred of Pres. Obama Skewed Poll That Named Him Worst President

Jon Ponder

Democrats split their choice for worst president among Bush and Nixon, while Republicans went solidly for Obama

A recent Quinnipiac poll found that 33 percent of Americans believe Pres. Obama is the worst president since World War II, while just 28 percent give that dishonor to George W. Bush.

How could this possibly be? The record overwhelmingly supports the proposition that George W. Bush was easily the most inept president since the war:

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Contrary to GOP/Tea Party Spin, Pres. Obama Has Issued Fewer Than 200 Executive Orders – Bush, Who Had a ‘Rubberstamp Congress,’ Issued 291

Jon Ponder

In a gambit to lay the groundwork for impeachment, the GOP leadership has announced plans to sue Pres. Obama on grounds that he has abused his authority by issuing executive orders to implement policies.

In their single terms in office, Republican presidents Theodore Roosevelt issued 1,081 EOs, Calvin Coolidge issued 1,203 orders and Herbert Hoover issued 968. Richard Nixon issued 346 EOs in his five years in office, and tea-party patron saint Ronald Reagan issued 381 executive orders during his two terms.

In support of the lawsuit, the usual suspects on the right have been making outrageous claims about the number of executive orders the president has issued — the most extravagant of which asserts that he’s issued more than 900 so-called EOs. The actual number is much lower, fewer than 200, so far. By contrast, George W. Bush signed 291 EOs.

Not surprisingly, the U.S. president who issued the most executive orders was Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat who served four terms. Republican presidents have issued more than their share of EOs, too, of course. In their single terms, Republicans Theodore Roosevelt issued 1,081 EOs, Calvin Coolidge issued 1,203 orders and Herbert Hoover issued 968. Richard Nixon issued 346 EOs in his five years in office, and tea-party patron saint Ronald Reagan issued 381 executive orders during his two terms.

The chart below shows the exact numbers for all presidents going back to 1901. To see a complete list going back to Pres. Washington, visit the American Presidency Project.

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Obama Does the Dozens on Climate-Change Deniers

Buck Banks

There are some who duck the question by saying, ‘Hey, I’m not a scientist.’ Let me translate that for you: What that means is, ‘I accept that man-made climate change is real, but if I admit it, I’ll be run out of town by a radical fringe that thinks climate science is a liberal plot.’

— President Obama, quoted by the Los Angeles Times, taking aim at climate change deniers.

Blame Obama: Uninsured Rate Sinking Like a Stone

Trish

Since healthcare is one of the few parts of the economy not yet easily outsourced overseas, the numbers mean economic growth across the board

A new Gallup/Healthways survey shows the number of uninsured has fallen to pre-recession levels, before so many Americans lost not only their jobs but their health insurance too.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but it wasn’t this way less than a year ago, even though the economy has long been picking up steam and employment continues to increase. Rather, at the end of last summer, the uninsured rate was about 18 percent, compared to 13.4 percent today.

What I’m trying to say is: Obamacare, Obamacare, Obamacare.

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Obama’s Weekly Address Isn’t So Ho-Hum

Trish

Week in and week out, the president posts his “Weekly Address,” a reiteration of the best answer to the most pressing problem of the time, which will never see daylight because of Republican opposition to anything Obama-related. It’s easy to tune out Obama’s message, just to save a little heartbreak.

This week, in the wake of the proposed budget from Republicans (which will also go nowhere, since Democrats still rule the Senate*) the president again frames the sensible solution but kind of kicks butt with a little extra womp around the 1:17 mark:

The Republican budget begins by passing out massive tax cuts to the households making more than a million dollars a year. Then, to keep from blowing a hole in the deficit, they’d have to raise taxes on middle class families with kids. Next, their budget forces deep cuts to investments that help our economy create jobs, like education and scientific research.

What’s the bottom line, my president?

Policies that benefit the fortunate few while making it harder for working Americans to succeed — that’s not what we need right now. Our economy doesn’t grow best from the top-down, it grows best from the middle-out.

Wham.

* Be sure to vote in November! It really, really matters this time.

Pres. Obama’s ‘Between Two Ferns’ Interview Has Upset Republicans – Because It’s Working

Jon Ponder

Republicans say they are agitated that Pres. Obama went on Zach Galifinakis’ fake interview show, “Between Two Ferns,” to promote the Affordable Care Act because he should be spending all of his time on the crisis in the Crimea — never mind that George H.W. Bush, who ordered the invasion of Kuwait, took his cigarette boat out for a spin during the Gulf War.

What they’re actually upset about is the fact that episodes of “Between Two Ferns” often get about 13 million page views and its viewers skew young, compared with the 2 million old folks who watch O’Reilly on Fox, the top rated cable news show, on a given night. And it appears that Obama’s appearance is working — USA Today: Healthcare.gov gets traffic boost after Obama’s ‘Funny or Die’ video:

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$27 Million Down the Drain? Doh!

Trish

Bad news for whoever is writing the checks at Americans for Prosperity (AFP). The Koch brothers’ political organization has spent $27 million since last August, with millions more planned, on ads attacking Senate Democrats who voted for healthcare reform and who are up for re-election this year.

A new poll shows they are likely wasting that cash.

Poll: Support for candidates who voted for the health-care law has improved dramatically

Support for candidates who voted for the health-care law has improved dramatically in recent months, a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Tuesday shows.

The survey found respondents almost exactly split on the question of whether they would be more or less likely to vote for a congressional candidate who supports the Affordable Care Act, with 34% saying they would be more likely to vote for the candidate and 36% saying they would be less likely to do so. Some 27% said it would not make a difference.

That’s a significant jump in support levels from November—a month after the troubled launch of HealthCare.gov, the federal insurance exchange that serves 36 states—when just 21% said a candidate’s support for the law would make them more likely to vote for them, compared to 37% who said it would make them less likely to do so. A much larger percentage—40%—were indifferent.

AFP’s ads are termed “misleading” by neutral fact-checkers, and “absolutely false” by Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

The organization put all its eggs in the “Obamacare will be hated” basket so if the public approves of the reforms and the costs of coverage decrease, the Kochs lose. Some Republicans have sniffed the wind and moved away from criticizing Pres. Obama over the Affordable Care Act to criticizing him over every other initiative instead.