If Bush Did It

Ohio was on center stage today as President Obama went toe-to-toe with GOP leader John Boehner jobs (though, er, the president thought he was in Illinois for a gaffetastic moment). The job-killer-in-chief spoke outside Cleveland, where Boehner addressed the economy two weeks ago. Republicans released a pre-buttal of Obama’s rebuttal laying out their top recovery agenda items: 1.Pass a bill that cuts non-security related government spending for the next year back to FY 2008 levels – before all of the bailouts, government takeovers, and ‘stimulus’ spending sprees began. On Monday, President Obama proposed another round of the same failed ‘stimulus’ spending that has led to fewer jobs and more debt. The legislation House Republicans are proposing would provide the fiscal discipline economists say is needed to promote private-sector job creation and prevent a lame-duck Congress from writing another bloated omnibus spending bill after the November elections. Exceptions should be made for programs affecting seniors, veterans, and national security. 2.Enact a two-year freeze on all current tax rates to stop job-killing tax hikes on families and small businesses. This would help ease the uncertainty employers and entrepreneurs are facing so they can get back to creating jobs. While President Obama intends to move forward with his plan to raise taxes on half of small business income in America, House Republicans will continue to fight to permanently stop job-killing tax hikes. “The American people are asking the question, ‘where are the jobs?,’ and yet here’s the White House worrying about what I’ve got to say instead of working together to get our economy going again and to get jobs back in America,” Boehner said during the interview. “If we’re able to do this together, I think we’ll show the American people that we understand what’s going on in the country and we’ll be able to get our economy moving again and get jobs growing in America.” Leader Boehner’s comments came just hours before President Obama was scheduled to talk about the economy in Cleveland – an event that the White House has admitted is a “direct response” to an economic speech Boehner gave in the same city last month. During that speech, Boehner called on President Obama to take five steps to break the ongoing economic uncertainty – including cutting spending and stopping job-killing tax hikes. Boehner also called on President Obama to announce his intent to veto lame-duck job-killing bills – including ‘card check’ and a ‘cap-and-trade’ national energy tax, urge Democratic Leaders to stop obstructing Republicans’ attempts to repeal ObamaCare’s job-killing ‘1099 mandate,’ and ask for – and accept – the resignations of the remaining members of his economic team. Later this month, House Republicans will lay out a clear and clearly different agenda focused on getting people working again. This agenda is being built from the ground up by listening to the American people , who want Washington to end its out-of-control spending spree and end uncertainty for small businesses so they can get back to creating jobs. Obama name-checked Boehner no less than seven times. He lied about Republicans failing to specify proposed government cuts (see here and here and here for starters). He pretended to champion construction workers again (while failing to mention how he’s punishing those who refuse to join unions ). And he attacked the GOP for engaging in the politics of fear…while stoking hysteria over the conservative backlash against his culture of corruption and entitlement. Yep, there’s fear in the air alright.

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Who’s afraid of John Boehner?