By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Republicans respond to President Barack H. Obama acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention as new numbers show that unemployment dropped to 8.1%, however that drop was due to 360,000 Americans giving up their job searches rather than new jobs being created in what has been the weakest economic recovery in the history of the country.
In a written statement Alabama Republican Party Chairman Bill Armistead said of Obama’s Thursday night Democratic Convention speech, “I’ll admit that my expectations were pretty low, but even I was surprised by how so much blame was tossed around tonight. Though Obama was busy enough pointing fingers, what he didn’t acknowledge are the ways he has failed our nation. No mention of his pet project Solyndra going bankrupt one year ago today, costing American taxpayers $528 million. No mention of vetoing the XL Keystone Pipeline project, costing Americans 20,000 jobs. No mention that his Senate Democrats have failed to pass a budget in over three years. No mention that Obama is the one who said he didn’t deserve a second term if our economy didn’t significantly improve. And of course, no mention of our skyrocketing national debt, now over $16,000,000,000,000.00! Most importantly, Obama failed to focus on what our country really needs – leadership! And at the highest levels!”
Republican Presidential Nominee Governor Mitt Romney said, “If last night was the party, this morning is the hangover. For every net new job created, nearly four Americans gave up looking for work entirely. This is more of the same for middle class families who are suffering through the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. After 43 straight months of unemployment above 8%, it is clear that President Obama just hasn’t lived up to his promises and his policies haven’t worked. We aren’t better off than we were four years ago. My plan for a stronger middle class will create 12 million new jobs by the end of my first term. America deserves new leadership that will get our economy moving again.”
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in a Newsmax.TV interview, “This race is going to come down to some fundamental things: Are people better off today than they were four years ago and did the president fulfill the mission of his presidency? People are forgiving, and people are generally filled with a fair amount of grace when it comes to politicians. However, if you can’t point to some of your most basic promises and show that the missions have been completed, I can’t imagine how anybody’s going to go into this final closing argument thinking that we need four more years of this misery.”
On the poor job numbers Economist James Fitzgibbon of the Highlander Group said: “If we impute the data samplings of non-working citizens at the labor force rate of January 2009 (when this Obama term began) we would have a Household U-3 Unemployment rate currently of 11.4%.” Fitzgibbon said that the Labor Force Participation rate has fallen sharply to 63.5%, the lowest number since the 1980-1981 Recession.
Fox News contributor Dick Morris said in a written statement, “So now we see Obama’s real program for coping with unemployment: Discourage people from even looking for work. Encourage them to leave the labor force and rely on government handouts instead. With almost 90 million working age adults not participating in the labor force, we are close to become a nation that does not work (less than two-thirds of us do), gets entitlements (50% of us do – compared to 30% in 1980), and pays no taxes (50% of us don’t pay federal income taxes).”
Chairman Armistead continued, “What is clear is that Americans cannot afford to give Obama another four years. It is time to put a businessman with a stellar career history at the helm of the ship. Governor Mitt Romney understands that government does not create jobs – business owners do! And what business owners need most is for the government to get out of their way! We know that Romney is the man for this job, but his victory is no sure thing! He needs our help in the states where this battle will be won or lost. Help us in Florida, Virginia and North Carolina to make sure the Romney/Ryan ticket comes out on top on November 6th.”
The Romney campaign also announced that they were unleashing 15 new TV ads in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia.
