Posted on 10/11/2011 5:42:19 AM PDT by Libloather
Obama campaign memo warns Congress on jobs bill votes
By Sam Youngman - 10/11/11 12:01 AM ET
President Obama's top campaign adviser said in a memo Monday -- the eve of the Senate vote on Obama's jobs bill -- that Congress will continue to suffer politically if the bill is defeated.
David Axelrod said in a campaign memo that a majority of Americans believe another recession is coming or already here, and voters will punish Congress for failing to stop it.
"So as members of Congress take up the American Jobs Act this week they need to understand that their failure to focus on what matters most to Americans is why disapproval for Congress is at a historic high – 80 percent," Axelrod wrote, citing a CBS/New York Times poll.
Using a slew of similar poll numbers favoring Obama, Axelrod wrote that the $447 billion jobs act is attracting more support as Obama has traveled around the country selling it.
"The more people know about the American Jobs Act; the more they hear the president talking about it; the more they want Congress to pass the plan," Axelrod wrote.
While most of the memo trains its warnings and criticisms on Republicans, there is no mention of the Democratic senators who are likely to join the GOP minority in the Senate in voting against the plan.
"The fundamental question in advance of tomorrow’s vote is this: will Republicans put country ahead of party and pass this bill?" Axelrod wrote. "Or will they oppose a bill that would create jobs now and that the American people support while standing by their proposals to extend tax cuts for large corporations, millionaires and billionaires while allowing Wall Street to write its own rules?"
The email contains indirect warnings about a coming double-dip recession should Congress fail to act, essentially putting the president all-in on a bill that at least in its current state appears headed for defeat as he attempts to put the onus for preventing a recession on Congress.
The memo, which does not mention any lawmakers or presidential candidates by name, said that Americans "don’t want to see the typical gamesmanship and delay because a majority (53 percent) believe that America is in or headed into another recession."
"The stakes couldn’t be higher as leading economists from across the political spectrum warn that immediate action is needed to create jobs and avoid another downturn in the economy," the memo reads. "And the American Jobs Act is the only plan that does what needs to be done: provide immediate relief to families and create jobs now."
The memo continues: "Yet Republican leaders – from Congress to the presidential campaign trail – have been steadfast in their opposition without providing an alternative that would create jobs now," Axelrod wrote.
You will hear Rush Limbaugh loudly announce that it's a tax bill not a jobs bill but that will be about it.
Irrelevant. Rush Limbaugh is not in Congress.
He said "anybody". Rush is "somebody".
I don't expect a single Republican (except maybe Rubio) to call this what it is. A tax bill.
Do you think that facts matter to this lot? They started with this crap the second the "plan" was announced -- put the responsibility of passage on the GOP, and blame them for any delay in fixing the problem that the "plan" wouldn't fix in the first place. Never mind that the Democrat-controlled Senate isn't touching it or not one Democrat House member will introduce the "plan" as a bill.
Have they not sent more than one jobs bill to the Senate - where Reid refuses to even bring them up for a vote - and the media refuses to mention them?
Isn't the fact that CONGRESS - that is the LAW/BILL making body of gov't - not the president = has already written, passed jobs bills and sent to the Senate, where they sit ignored, a fact that we need to demand get press on?
we need to demand the media stop ignoring this. It will take the wind out of the BIG LIE that the president's bill is the only one.
And since it looks like this is the ONLY thing 'bummer has in his campaign chest (he can't run on the economy, indeed, on ANY of his record) if people realize it's not a question of Congress not passing the ONE & ONLY jobs bill - and the the PRes. and Senate are ignoring/blocking the jobs BILLS (plural) that the Congress had already written and passed - it should knock the wind out of his campaign sails?
I'm dejected by the number of Freepers that don't even know about the jobs bills the Congress has already passed - if Freepers don't keep informed, we certainly can't expect the general public, who needs to be spoon fed, to have a clue.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.