Category Archives: Budget

Obama Ohio speech, January 22, 2010, Jobs speech, Unemployment Up in 43 States in December, Lies, Narcissism, Karl Rove, Sean Hannity, Ohio job losses

While Obama was giving a  jobs speech, Friday afternoon, January 22, 2010 at Lorain County Community College
in Elyria, Ohio, a government report indicated that unemployment was up in 43 States in December. Consistent with Obama’s past and personality, Obama’s speech is driven by Lies and Narcissism. Commentary is provided by Karl Rove, Sean Hannity and Citizen Wells.

Fox News unemployment report, January 22, 2010.

“Unemployment Up in 43 States in December”

“WASHINGTON — Unemployment rates rose in 43 states last month, the government said Friday, painting a bleak picture of the job market and illustrating nationwide data released two weeks ago.
The rise in joblessness was a sharp change from November, when 36 states said their unemployment rates fell. Four states — South Carolina, Delaware, Florida and North Carolina — reported record-high jobless rates in December.
New Jersey’s rate, meanwhile, rose to a 33-year high of 10.1 percent while New York’s reached a 26-year high of 9 percent.
Analysts said the report showed the economy is recovering at too weak a pace to generate consistent job creation.
“A lot of states that had started to add jobs (in November) gave up those gains in December,” said Sophia Koropeckyj, managing director at Moody’s Economy.com.”

“Texas lost the second-most jobs: 23,900. That sent its jobless rate to 8.3 percent in December from 8 percent. The next-largest job losses were in Ohio, Illinois and Michigan.”

Read more:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/22/unemployment-states-december/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+foxnews%252Fpolitics+%2528Text+-+Politics%2529
 

Obama Ohio speech text

“Today, because of the actions we took, the worst of this economic storm has passed. But families like yours and communities like Elyria are still reeling from the devastation left in its wake. Folks have seen jobs you thought would last forever disappear. You’ve seen plants close and businesses shut down. I’ve heard about how the city government here is bare bones. And how you can’t get to work or go buy groceries like you used to because of cuts in the county transit system.”

“Let me tell you – so long as I have the privilege of serving as your President, I’ll never stop fighting for you. I’ll take my lumps, too. I’ll never stop fighting to bring jobs back to Elyria. I’ll never stop fighting for an economy where hard work is rewarded, where responsibility is honored, where accountability is upheld, where we’re creating the jobs of tomorrow.”

“I’ll never stop fighting to open up government. That’s why we put in place the toughest ethics laws and toughest transparency rules of any administration in history.”

Read more:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/01/obamas-jobs-speech-in-ohio-the.html?wprss=44

Unemployment up in December, Obama speech in Ohio, Obama CYA speech timing suspect, Obama narcissism and lies

In typical Obama fashion, and true to his pattern of narcissism and lies, Obama speaks to a group at Lorain County Community College in Elyria, Ohio, today, January 22, 2010. Obama, whose socialist, big spending programs have greatly worsened the job situation and bleakened the outlook for job creation, has the gall to say  “I’ll never stop fighting for an economy where hard work is rewarded” just as a new report was released indicating that  unemployment rates rose in 43 states in December.

From Fox News, January 22, 2010.

“Unemployment Up in 43 States in December”

“Unemployment rates rose in 43 states last month, the government said Friday, painting a bleak picture of the job market and illustrating nationwide data released two weeks ago.”

“WASHINGTON — Unemployment rates rose in 43 states last month, the government said Friday, painting a bleak picture of the job market and illustrating nationwide data released two weeks ago.
The rise in joblessness was a sharp change from November, when 36 states said their unemployment rates fell. Four states — South Carolina, Delaware, Florida and North Carolina — reported record-high jobless rates in December.
New Jersey’s rate, meanwhile, rose to a 33-year high of 10.1 percent while New York’s reached a 26-year high of 9 percent.
Analysts said the report showed the economy is recovering at too weak a pace to generate consistent job creation.
“A lot of states that had started to add jobs (in November) gave up those gains in December,” said Sophia Koropeckyj, managing director at Moody’s Economy.com.
Texas and Georgia lost more jobs in December than they had gained the previous month, she noted, while Arizona and South Carolina lost nearly as many as they had gained.
That is consistent with nationwide trends. Employers shed a net total of 85,00 jobs in December, the government said earlier this month, after notching a small gain of 4,000 jobs in November.”

“Nationally, more than 600,000 people left the labor force in December, according to government data. The large exodus from the labor force indicates that “unemployment is a lot worse than the numbers suggest,” Koropeckyj said.”

Read more:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/22/unemployment-states-december/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+foxnews%252Fpolitics+%2528Text+-+Politics%2529

Charles Krauthammer, What Scott Brown’s win means for the Democrats, January 22, 2010, Obama ABC interview, Democrats delusional, Obama and Democrats blame Bush, Obama blames insurance companies

From the Washington Post, January 22, 2010, Charles Krauthammer.

“What Scott Brown’s win means for the Democrats”

“On Jan. 14, five days before the Massachusetts special election, President Obama was in full bring-it-on mode as he rallied House Democrats behind his health-care reform. “If Republicans want to campaign against what we’ve done by standing up for the status quo and for insurance companies over American families and businesses, that is a fight I want to have.”
The bravado lasted three days. When Obama campaigned in Boston on Jan. 17 for Obamacare supporter Martha Coakley, not once did he mention the health-care bill. When your candidate is sinking, you don’t throw her a millstone.

After Coakley’s defeat, Obama pretended that the real cause was a generalized anger and frustration “not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.”

Let’s get this straight: The antipathy to George W. Bush is so enduring and powerful that . . . it just elected a Republican senator in Massachusetts? Why, the man is omnipotent.

And the Democrats are delusional: Scott Brown won by running against Obama, not Bush. He won by brilliantly nationalizing the race, running hard against the Obama agenda, most notably Obamacare. Killing it was his No. 1 campaign promise.

Bull’s-eye. An astonishing 56 percent of Massachusetts voters, according to a Rasmussen poll, called health care their top issue. In a Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates poll, 78 percent of Brown voters said their vote was intended to stop Obamacare. Only a quarter of all voters in the Rasmussen poll cited the economy as their top issue, nicely refuting the Democratic view that Massachusetts was just the usual anti-incumbent resentment you expect in bad economic times.”

“The reason both wings of American liberalism — congressional and mainstream media — were so surprised at the force of anti-Democratic sentiment is that they’d spent Obama’s first year either ignoring or disdaining the clear early signs of resistance: the tea-party movement of the spring and the town-hall meetings of the summer. With characteristic condescension, they contemptuously dismissed the protests as the mere excrescences of a redneck, retrograde, probably racist rabble.”

“Democrats must so rationalize, otherwise they must take democracy seriously, and ask themselves: If the people really don’t want it, could they possibly have a point?

“If you lose Massachusetts and that’s not a wake-up call,” said moderate — and sentient — Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, “there’s no hope of waking up.””

Read more:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012103500.html

 

Obama ABC George Stephanopoulos interview, Obama blames Bush for MA senate loss

Thanks to commenter Patriot Dreamer

2010 elections, Congress cleansing, House, Senate, January 2010, November elections will change our history

We are poised for success in November 2010. By success, I do not mean dominance by either party, a Republican or Democrat platform or agenda. I mean a fundamental change in party politics and the way that Congress and the American people interact. We will no longer allow the jackasses in Congress and the White House to ignore the American people and try to implement an agenda that is unconstitutional, un American and un popular.

Let’s roll.

Scott Brown, January 18, 2010, Republican Scott Brown is surfing a wave of voter frustration with Barack Obama, Washington lies, Not Kennedy seat, Not Democrat seat, Lower your taxes and bring common sense back to Washington

From Fox News January 18, 2010.

“GOP Hopeful Riding Voter Anger in Kennedy Seat Bid”

“BOSTON — Republican Scott Brown is surfing a wave of voter frustration with President Barack Obama that has helped propel the once low-profile Massachusetts state senator from long shot to contender in the race to fill the Senate seat left vacant by Edward Kennedy’s death.

Brown’s meteoric rise caught nearly everyone off-guard, particularly Democratic Party leaders who assumed their candidate, state Attorney General Martha Coakley, would have a cakewalk to the U.S. Capitol after winning a four-way primary in November.

They hadn’t counted on voters like Luis Rodriguez.

The 46-year-old plastics factory supervisor, who emigrated to the U.S. in 1988 from Uruguay and became a citizen last year, said he’s fed up with what he calls the lies told by Washington. It’s enough for him that Coakley supports Obama, who Rodriguez says has failed to make good on his pledge for openness.

“We don’t buy what we can’t afford. We don’t spend what we don’t have,” said Rodriguez, echoing the anger expressed by other voters who say Democrats are too eager to bail out bankers and people who bought homes they couldn’t afford. “These people, what they’re doing now, they’re spending money they don’t have so they can get elected again.”

Despite the Bay State’s liberal reputation, some Massachusetts voters are also chafing at the idea that just because the Senate seat had been held by Kennedy for 47 years, it should automatically go to a Democratic successor.”

“”It’s socialism. It starts with health care. It starts with the government bailouts,” said Johnson, 43, who’s retired from the military. “I work for a living and I see more and more of my money going to people who sit home and don’t do it. I’m all for helping people out, but I like keeping what I earn.”

In addition to showing a dead heat between Brown and Coakley, a Suffolk University poll last week of 500 likely voters also revealed unhappiness with Massachusetts’ landmark health care law, which has been used in part as the blueprint for the national health care overhaul. Close to two-thirds of those polled said the state cannot afford the health care system.”

Read more:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/18/gop-hopeful-riding-voter-anger-kennedy-seat-bid/

MA Senate debate, Monday, January 18, 2010, Scott Brown, Martha Coakley, Joseph L. Kennedy, Youtube video, Final debate, Turnout Critical in Tight Massachusetts Senate Race

****  UPDATES BELOW  ****

This article will be updated during the day today.

The final debate of the MA Senate race will take place tonight, January 18, 2010 .

From Fox News.

“Turnout Critical in Tight Massachusetts Senate Race”

“Both sides say turnout will be key in a race that could decide the fate of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Obama campaigned Sunday for Democrat Martha Coakley.”

“BOSTON – Democrats and Republicans ramped up election eve get-out-the-vote efforts in their close battle for a Massachusetts Senate seat that could decide the fate of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and the rest of his agenda at the opening of the 2010 midterm campaign season.

Obama needs newly embattled Martha Coakley to win Tuesday’s special election for the late Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat and deny Republicans the ability to block his initiatives with a 41st filibuster-sustaining GOP vote.

The president campaigned here Sunday with Coakley, who has seen the double-digit lead she had two weeks ago evaporate under a strong challenge by Republican state Sen. Scott Brown.

Voter turnout is normally low in special elections, but even in staunchly Democratic Massachusetts, apprehension about Obama’s health care overhaul is fueling a huge wave of populist support for Brown.

Polls show that independents, who make up 51 percent of the state’s electorate, have responded enthusiastically to Brown. His campaign is targeting them as well Republicans, who are outnumbered by Democrats 3-to-1 in the Bay State.”

Read more:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/18/turnout-key-tight-massachusetts-senate-race/

MA Senate debate, Monday, January 18, 2010, Scott Brown, Martha Coakley, Joseph L. Kennedy

****  Update January 18, 2010,  1:50 PM  ****

From Fox News

“Voter Enthusiasm a Problem for Coakley, Polls Suggest”

“A new poll out of Public Policy Polling on Monday underscored the depth of Coakley’s challenge. 

The poll showed Brown leading 51-46 overall, 64-32 among independents and winning 20 percent of the vote from those who backed Obama in 2008. On the flip side, the survey showed Coakley pulling just 4 percent of the vote from those who backed John McCain, in the 2008 presidential race. 

And the poll reflected the enthusiasm gap from which Coakley suffers. Eighty percent of Brown supporters said they were “very excited” about Tuesday’s election, while only 60 percent of Coakley supporters felt the same way.” 

Read more:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/18/polls-suggest-voter-enthusiasm-problem-coakley/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+foxnews%252Flatest+%2528Text+-+Latest+Headlines%2529

“White House Predicts Martha Coakley Will Lose Tuesday’s Election”

****  Update January 18, 2010,  4:45 PM  ****

****  Update January 18, 2010,  6:20 PM  ****

From CNN Political Ticker

“Poll: Brown makes gains in Mass. Senate Race”

” A new poll released Monday afternoon indicates that Republican Scott Brown has a 7-point edge over Democrat Martha Coakley in Tuesday’s special election in Massachusetts for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s seat.

According to an American Research Group survey, 52 percent of likely voters back Brown, a state senator, with 45 percent supporting Coakley, the state’s attorney general. Meanwhile, 2 percent back Joseph Kennedy, a third party candidate who is not related to the late senator. The 7-point advantage for Brown is just within the poll’s sampling error.”

Read more:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/18/poll-brown-makes-gains-in-mass-senate-race/

****  Update January 18, 2010,  7:25 PM  ****

From Politico

“New poll: Brown up 9”

“A new InsiderAdvantage poll conducted exclusively for POLITICO shows Republican Scott Brown surging to a 9-point advantage over Martha Coakley a day before Massachusetts voters trek to the ballot box to choose a new senator.
According to the survey conducted Sunday evening, Brown leads the Democratic attorney general 52 percent to 43 percent.
“I actually think the bottom is falling out,” said InsiderAdvantage CEO Matt Towery, referring to Coakley’s fall in the polls over the last ten days. “I think that this candidate is in freefall. Clearly this race is imploding for her.””
Read more:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31621.html

Scott Brown campaigns in Middleboro MA, January 16, 2010, MA Senate race, True Republican, Videos, Youtube video, Everett Square, Spoke from the back of a pickup truck, You deserve better, Taxes, Creating jobs

From Everett News, January 17, 2010.

“Scott Brown campaigns in Middleboro on Saturday night
More than 500 supporters attend event”

“MIDDLEBORO — Scott Brown pulled into Everett Square on Saturday night and spoke from the back of a pickup truck to more than 500 supporters.

The crowd filled the Flat Iron Cafe and even spilled out into the square, filling the parking lot of the Rockland Trust Bank.

Brown spoke briefly to the crowd and was greeted with cheers and chants as he outlined his platform and said.

“You deserve better. … When I go to Washington, I will do my very best to stop backroom deals. We’ve lost our way,” he told the crowd.

Brown spent more time on the ground shaking hands with the crowd, which was a cross section of steel workers, farmers, doctors and the unemployed.

Many, like David Ng of Pembroke, had already voted by absentee ballot. Ng said his vote was against “everything the Democrats try to ram down our throats.””

“Brown’s stand on taxes and creating jobs was a high priority for Voneow. Bill is out of work, and the couple is trying to make ends meet on one paycheck.

“He stands for working like a true Republican instead of feeding special interests. He’s the guy I think can help us,” said Bill.”

“Her husband, Norman, 88, a former member of the Planning Board had already voted for Brown by absentee ballot. Their son, Douglas, said he supports Brown because “he’ll take the reigns of government back from socialist concerns.”

Many in the crowd said the election has national ramifications, calling it a vote that will be heard around the world.”

Read more:

http://www.enterprisenews.com/news/x1685418015/Scott-Brown-campaigns-in-Middleboro-on-Saturday-night

Scott Brown in Middleboro

Part 1

Part 2

Thanks to commenter Jacqlyn Smith, et al.

Martha Coakley Takes Money From Health Insurance Lobbyists, MA Republican Party ad video, Coakley ties to drug companies, Coakley fundraiser Washington DC, Health care lobbyists, Martha Coakley smear campaign, Health Care Bill

The MA Republican Party has a new video out accusing Martha Coakley of taking money from health insurance lobbyists.

“Martha Coakley says she holds health insurers accountable, then one day later, takes money from the very same health insurance lobbyists at a Washington fundraiser.”

Was this a fair portrayal of Coakley’s ties to lobbyists and drug companies?

You decide.

From the Washington Examiner, January 8, 2010.

“Coakley in trouble? Pharma and HMO lobbyists to the rescue”

“With Democrat Martha Coakley in trouble in the Massachusetts special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat, Democrats could lose vote No. 60 for President Obama’s health-care bill. In response, an army of lobbyists for drug companies, health insurance companies, and hospitals has teamed up to throw a high-dollar Capitol Hill fundraiser for Coakley next Tuesday night. The invitation is here.

Of the 22 names on the host committee–meaning they raised $10,000 or more for Coakley–17 are federally registered lobbyists, 15 of whom have health-care clients. Of the other five hosts, one is married to a lobbyist, one was a lobbyist in Pennsylvania, another is a lawyer at a lobbying firm, and another is a corporate CEO. Oh, and of course, there’s also the political action commitee for Boston Scientific Corporation.

All the leading drug companies have lobbyists on Coakley’s host committee: Pfizer, Merck, Amgen, Sanofi-Aventis, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Astra-Zeneca, and more. On the insurance side of things, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Cigna, Humana, HealthSouth, and United Health all are represented on the host committee.”

“Here are some of Coakley fundraiser hosts with some of their current health care clients:

Thomas Boggs, Patton Boggs: Bristol-Myers Squibb
Chuck Brain, Capitol Hill Strategies: Amgen, BIO, Merck, PhRMA
Susan Brophy, Glover Park Group: Blue Cross, Pfizer
Steven Champlin, Duberstein Group: AHIP, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis
Licy Do Canto, Raben Group: Amgen
Gerald Cassidy, Cassidy & Associates: U. Mass Memorial Health Care
David Castagnetti, Mehlman, Vogel, Castagnetti: Abbot Labs, AHIP, Astra-Zenaca, General Electric, Humana, Merck, PhRMA.
Steven Elmendorf, Elmendorf Strategies: Medicines Company, PhRMA, United Health
Shannon Finley, Capitol Counsel: Amgen, Astra-Zeneca, Blue Cross, GE, PhRMA, Sanofi-Aventis.
Heather Podesta, Heather Podesta & Partners: Cigna, Eli Lilly, HealthSouth
Tony Podesta, Podesta Group: Amgen, GE, Merck, Novartis.
Robert Raben, Raben Group: Amgen, GE. ”

Read more:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Coakley-in-trouble-Pharma-and-HMO-lobbyists-to-the-rescue-81067542.html

“Fox News Reports On Martha Coakley’s “Controversial” DC Fundraiser With Health Care Lobbyists”

“It won’t be the first time but Martha Coakley smeared Scott Brown tonight outside of her big Washington DC lobbyist fundraiser.

Martha Coakley is a smear merchant.
She already tried to tie Republican Scott Brown to Rush Limbaugh even though the two have never met.

Now tonight Martha Coakley tried to tie Scott Brown to “extreme right groups” who she says are pouring money into Massachusetts. She says this despite the fact that Brown raised over $1.3 million, mostly in small donations, in an online money bomb yesterday. And, she had the gall to say this outside of her Washington DC lobbyist fundraiser where 22 big-time lobbyists from drug, health care and insurance companies met tonight to help bail her campaign out.

Brian Maloney has more on Coakley’s big money fundraiser tonight.

As if Martha Coakleys support from the corrupt establishment wasnt already clear enough, now comes word that a coalition of sleazebag industry lobbyists have teamed up with Bay State Democrats for an eleventh-hour bailout of her faltering campaign.

Many of those involved in this hastily-organized rescue attempt have no Bay State ties, their only allegiance is to piggish K Street – Beltway lobbying firms.”

Scott Brown, Catholic Families for America endorsement, CFA, January 13, 2010, Voters of conscience, Not Kennedy seat, People’s seat

Catholic Families for America, CFA, has endorsed Scott Brown for the MA senate seat.

From the Christian News Wire, January 13, 2010.

“Catholic Families for America Endorses Scott Brown for Massachusetts Senate Seat”

“CFA Executive Director: “For voters of conscience in Massachusetts, the choice is clear: Scott Brown is a traditional values public servant who would bring a refreshing voice of common sense to the U. S. Senate. We applaud him for reminding the political class in Washington that this is not ‘the Kennedy seat — it’s the people’s seat.'””

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 /Christian Newswire/ — Dr. Kevin Roberts, executive director of the Catholic grassroots advocacy group, Catholic Families for America (CFA), announced the organization’s endorsement of Scott Brown in next Tuesday’s special election for the U.S. Senate.



“”Scott would be such an upgrade on every major issue from the late Teddy Kennedy,” Roberts said. “Furthermore, his opponent, who espouses the same anti-life, anti-family, anti-values agenda that made Kennedy such a tragic figure to the Church, should give Catholic, Christian, and values voters an easy choice next Tuesday.””

“”Our republic cannot withstand a long period of liberal, anti-family super-majorities in Congress,” Roberts explained. “If Scott Brown surprises the pundits next week, then we know that the end is near for the abject failures of Pelosi, Reid, and Obama.””

Read more:

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/5497512674.html

I love this response Scott Brown gave during the recent MA Senate Debate.

The Citizen Wells blog enthusiastically
endorses Scott Brown for the MA senate seat.

US Chamber of Commerce, Obama, Chamber pledges to stop Obama agenda, Play big role in November elections, President Thomas Donohue, Health care legislation, Fiscal insolvency, Valerie Jarrett

“Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.”…George Bernard Shaw

Those who can’t do, won’t do, have never successfully run a business and hate business are part of the Obama Administration…Citizen Wells

 

From USA Today, January 12, 2010.

“U.S. Chamber pledges to stop Obama agenda, play big role in Nov. elections”

“U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue attacked President Obama’s domestic agenda Tuesday, criticizing Democratic efforts on climate change, health care and oversight of the nation’s financial system.

And he pledged to use the chamber’s might in November’s elections to take on the president’s allies in Congress.”

“The chamber will carry out “the largest, most aggressive” campaign in its 100-year history as it works to influence the outcome of mid-term congressional elections and stop legislation it views as harmful to the economy, he said. “As Americans choose a new House and senators this fall,” Donohue added, “the chamber will highlight lawmakers and candidates who support a pro-jobs agenda and hold accountable those who don’t.””

Read more:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2010/01/us-chamber-pledges-to-stop-obama-agenda-play-big-role-in-nov-elections.html

Apparently Obama and US Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue are not good buddies. Of course, the Obama Administration, a model of business acumen and job creation, has it’s answer to the US Chamber of Commerce in the Business Roundtable. Valerie Jarrett is the president’s liaison to the corporate world. You remember Jarrett.

“I was in the process of reporting more on Valerie Jarrett and her past ties to corruption in Chicago and I will do so. For now, Michelle Malkin does an excellent job in this video of exposing the truth about Obama and Jarrett and their motives for getting the Olympics for Chicago.”…Valerie Jarrett, corrupt slumlord Obama friend

From the LA Times, October 25, 2009.

“White House confronts the U.S. Chamber of Commerce”

“WASHINGTON — The Obama White House, stepping in where other Democrats feared to tread, has launched a potentially risky fight with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — attempting to bypass the nation’s most powerful business organization and develop independent ties to corporate America.

In recent weeks, President Obama, his Energy secretary and one of his other most senior advisors have begun criticizing the chamber publicly, casting it as a profligate lobbying organization at odds with its members in opposing the administration on such issues as consumer protection and climate change.

At the same time, the administration has been meeting privately with prominent corporate leaders — more than 60 of them since June — in an effort to develop its own pipeline to the business community.
The White House also has gone out of its way to cultivate another corporate group, the Business Roundtable, which is much smaller than the chamber but represents chief executives of many of the nation’s largest corporations.

“Our strategy is to reach out directly to the business community,” said Valerie Jarrett, the president’s liaison to the corporate world. “This is a shift. Previously, the chamber had served as the sole intermediary for business. That’s not our approach.”

Jarrett praised the Business Roundtable, saying that it brings member CEOs to White House meetings in addition to Washington lobbyists.

In an indirect dig at the chamber, Jarrett said the roundtable meetings were more substantive and valuable because they included not just a trade association leader but someone who actually runs a business.

The White House role in criticizing the chamber has, predictably, riled Republicans. But it also has made some Democrats nervous.”

Read more:

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/oct/25/nation/na-chamber25

Here are some exerpts from the speech of US Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue, January 12, 2010.

“Think for a moment about the nation’s job creators—the men and women who run our small and large businesses—as well as those who lead our universities, our health care facilities and the many other institutions that employ our workforce. If you were in their shoes today, would you jump quickly into new investments and hiring? Or would you wait for some clarity, and some common sense, to take hold first?

Most of these job creators would like nothing more than to keep their workers employed, create new jobs, and bring some hope and relief to families struggling without a paycheck. But when they look at what’s going on in Washington, in the states, and around the world, what do they see?

They see massive tax increases on the horizon—not just the expiration of the tax cuts passed over the last decade, but also hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes.

They see health care legislation that contains a burdensome mandate on employers and virtually no meaningful reforms to improve quality or control costs.

They see a climate change bill and potential EPA regulations that could significantly raise energy prices and impose new layers of bureaucracy on their organizations.

They see financial services legislation moving forward that could choke off their access to capital at a time when lending is already very tight.

America’s job creators also see a renewed push by unions to pass card check and many other measures to control the workplace.

They see the trial bar working with their allies in Congress and with many state attorneys general to expand opportunities for new litigation.

They see the rise of trade isolationism at home and abroad that could threaten their export markets—and now, renewed fears about terrorism.

And our job creators see the federal government planning to expand the national debt by at least $9 trillion over the next decade—more debt than has been piled up in all previous years since George Washington. They see many states going broke as well. What will the impact be on their companies and employees?

These are the uncertainties that job creators are wrestling with—uncertainties that call into question how quick or strong our economic recovery will be. And no one is paying a higher price than the American worker.

Over seven million Americans have lost their jobs since the recession began. Ten percent of the workforce is unemployed—a number that soars beyond 17 percent when you add those who have stopped looking for jobs and the millions of part-time workers who want to work full-time.”

Read more:

http://www.uschamber.com/press/speeches/2010/100112_sab

By the way, the Chamber of Commerce of a major NC city, was my first business account assigned to me when I was young. It was a pleasure to present this article.