Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Obama’s Economic Team Declares No Confidence in Policies
Townhall.com ^ | June 13, 2011 | Lurita Doan

Posted on 06/13/2011 4:46:29 AM PDT by Kaslin

Don’t look now, but many on Obama’s economic team is abandoning ship and heading for the exits. Austan Goolsbee’s, who recently resigned from his post as the White House economic advisor after less than a year, is just the most visible defection. Obama’s economic team is headed for the doors and following the lead of the more senior economic advisors. Christine Roemer, Larry Summers and Peter Orszag were the first to abandon Obama’s economic team as it became painfully obvious that their policies on job creation had failed. These are the same advisors that assured Americans that a huge expansion of entitlements, an historic increase in the size of government, almost doubling of the national debt by $5 trillion, while hobbling small businesses with a new thicket of regulations, would actually result in economic expansion and job growth across the nation.

Not only were these presidential advisors wrong, but disastrously so. Rarely has a group failed so spectacularly. Thus, Americans should not be surprised that many of the lower levels of Obama’s National Economic Council team (Sarah Cannon, Eric Lesser, Bryan Jung, Kyle Watkins, Pascal Noel) are also abandoning the sinking Obama ship. This mass exodus of Team Obama’s economic advisors is a stunning vote of no confidence in the President’s economic policies. Obama needs to consider this: When all of your staff give up, they are telling you that there is something flawed in the current approach that doesn’t work. Personnel is policy.

Mr. Obama’s supporters certainly understand that when key staffers depart en masse, they are essentially fleeing a losing endeavor and are hoping to get out before recriminations for failure have a chance to permanently tarnish personal reputations. No one wants to be part of a losing team, and, before the stench of defeat has a chance to permanently cling, they leave.

Curiously, this is the same argument that Obama’s supporters are using to characterize the recent defections from Newt Gingrich. Yet, when it comes to finding a rationale for why the entire Obama economic team has bolted for the doors, the Administration is essentially telling us that “there is nothing to see here…just move along”.

But moving along is not so easy. The Obama Administration’s job-creation strategies has resulted in a jump in unemployment to 9.1%, despite an imaginative and destructive amount of new government spending of nearly $5 trillion masquerading as economic stimulus. Say what you will, but at least Gingrich’s implosion only directly impacted his personal ambitions to seek higher office. The mass defection of Obama’s entire economic team by contrast, has directly and severely eroded the economic well being of every single American.

One of Obama’s favorite adjectives seems to be “unprecedented”. What’s unprecedented is the little-reported, massive, wholesale departure of a team of economic advisors. While the exodus of Newt Gingrich’s staff is gaining all of the media attention, the far more concerning departures of the President’s economic team has had little media coverage. With their departure, the President is now isolated and alone with his failures.

I wonder: were any Obama’s departing economic advisors honest enough to recognize and admit that their advice was flawed? Did any have the courage to go to the President and admit they were wrong? We can only hope they did—even as we bemoan the spectacle of a ruined economic policy and the sad specter of Obama holding the empty bag.

Another troubling fact to consider is that many of Obama’s economic team are leaving to join academia. Surely, if these folks believed in the Obama rhetoric, wouldn’t at least one of them go into the private sector? Since these are the folks that worked overtime to convince Americans that their economic policies would help job growth and promote small business development, why isn’t even one of Obama’s departing staff moving out to start up a small business and effectively demonstrate conviction in their ideas with actual deeds?

On the other hand, had Obama fired his economic team—that would have been a good thing. Firings would have shown that Obama realized that their advice had been flawed, that Obama recognized that the country was worse off than when he took office, and that he was trying to do something about it. For example, in 1985, David Stockman didn’t think that cutting taxes would grow the economy. Reagan did, so he fired Stockman, and it turns out Reagan was right. The economy under President Reagan boomed.

But make no mistake, the Obama’s Economic Policy is a shambles and the mass defection of all of his economic policy advisors is sending Americans a clear message of the chaos within the White House. Obama has churned through three different economic advisors in a short period of time and likely will burn through a few more. (During Reagan’s 8 years in office, he had a total of three.)

Wake up and smell the coffee, Mr. President. Obama’s people have abandoned his economic policy. Maybe it’s time for Obama to abandon it too.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: economy
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

1 posted on 06/13/2011 4:46:32 AM PDT by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

It’s hard for me to get by the grammar in the first sentence. Does Town Hall not have an editor?


2 posted on 06/13/2011 4:51:03 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

barak is not about to back down now. All this economic destruction is being done on purpose. His “economic” team is just now starting to develop a conscience and figuring out that they are in deep kimchee.
Watch who the replacements are.

Van Jones?

fits the pattern.


3 posted on 06/13/2011 4:53:05 AM PDT by Texas resident (Hunkered Down)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Barry’s former economic team members knew what they were doing when they hired on. They are only leaving because they don’t want to take the blame. They are not leaving because their advice wasn’t taken or that Barry wanted to do something different. They knew exactly what was going to happen.


4 posted on 06/13/2011 5:02:59 AM PDT by caver (Obama: Home of the Whopper)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 9YearLurker

Even the editor can see that they is leaving...


5 posted on 06/13/2011 5:03:43 AM PDT by Common Sense 101
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: 9YearLurker

But I hope you get the drift?


6 posted on 06/13/2011 5:07:19 AM PDT by saintgermaine
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

-——The Obama Administration’s job-creation strategies has resulted in a jump in unemployment to 9.1%,-——

This is an interesting claim.

I would argue that the reason for the defections is that the defecting insiders were tasked with fudging the unemployment number and publishing the lie. They know their efforts are in vain and that the truth will ultimately surface.

The adjustment required to bring the unemployment to actual will be a killer. The hope, the salvation, would be a decrease that would eventually allow the fudge to flatten. That has not happened. The number has increased and the fudge is no longer adjustable and creditable.

The defections in effect leave the President and their gullible replacements holding the bag.


7 posted on 06/13/2011 5:13:09 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. N.C. D.E. +12 ....( History is a process, not an event ))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bert
...were tasked with fudging the unemployment number and publishing the lie. They know their efforts are in vain and that the truth will ultimately surface.

I don't know many intelligent people who have believed any of the unemployment numbers put out by the 0bama regime.

8 posted on 06/13/2011 5:22:50 AM PDT by The Sons of Liberty (Psalm 109:8 Let his days be few and let another take his office. - Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

>>Mr. Obama’s supporters certainly understand that when key staffers depart en masse, they are essentially fleeing a losing endeavor and are hoping to get out before recriminations for failure have a chance to permanently tarnish personal reputations.

I have no confidence whatsoever that anything like a majority of Obama supporters have the analytic powers to understand this.


9 posted on 06/13/2011 5:23:12 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: caver

They figure if they leave their roles will be forgotten and they’re right.


10 posted on 06/13/2011 5:26:48 AM PDT by ryan71 (Dear spell check - No, I will not capitalize the "m" in moslem!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: ryan71

Yes, the public has a short memory.


11 posted on 06/13/2011 5:28:40 AM PDT by caver (Obama: Home of the Whopper)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: FreedomPoster

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm1KOBMg1Y8


12 posted on 06/13/2011 5:30:23 AM PDT by houeto (Palin/DeMint - 2012!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The only reason why the brilliant, really-really smart, outstandingly superior Democrat plan is trouble is because of President Bush.

/sarcasm/


13 posted on 06/13/2011 5:31:01 AM PDT by ripley
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Common Sense 101

;-)


14 posted on 06/13/2011 5:31:15 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

All of Obama’s so called highly educated ecomomists should not only resign, they should be denied any teaching positions in academia until they go back to school themselves.

All of them are fools and indoctrinated idiots. What they have done to this country is criminal.


15 posted on 06/13/2011 5:33:32 AM PDT by dforest
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bert

I think that’s more plausible than the idea that they somehow disagree with Obama’s (and their own) ruinous policies.

Liberal economists never have to worry about the actual outcome of what they advocate—it is good enough for them that their motivation is commendable. Sure, they may argue that their policies will lead to favorable results; but at worst, reality may simply force them to claim that their policy wasn’t implemented thoroughly enough or on a large enough scale.


16 posted on 06/13/2011 5:36:44 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: indylindy
The numbers must be wrong. Otherwise, it would mean that Obama, who told us it was necessary to print all this money, stoke inflation, send oil over $100 and gold over $1,500 and send our debt higher than GDP, to keep unemployment rate below 8%, was pulling a fast one. /sarc
So Jackwagon Obama never created or saved any green shoots, even the ones the the piss-stream media harped about?

All I know is that if they tell us we had 1.8% growth, it really means we had no growth or negative growth.

The anomaly of the current recession is the anomaly of Zer0's political philosophy and worldview.

Obama never intended to 'deliver.' Obama intended to redistribute wealth and punish successful people.

Winning rule in 2012: Direct political attack on Obama!

Hopefully Zer0's massive incompetence will move more to vote against him in 2012. We'll see.

In A Ditch2
17 posted on 06/13/2011 5:40:48 AM PDT by BobP (The piss-stream media - Never to be watched again in my house)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Gee,

I wonder what their first clue was?

18 posted on 06/13/2011 5:41:05 AM PDT by North Coast Conservative (If this be treason, make the most of it. - Patrick Henry)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: caver
Yes, the public has a short memory.

This is what the Rats hope for and you seem to be agreeing with it

19 posted on 06/13/2011 5:50:59 AM PDT by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Yea, I agree with it. Do you disagree? The public is stupid.


20 posted on 06/13/2011 6:00:23 AM PDT by caver (Obama: Home of the Whopper)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson