Were Obama smart enough to deliver this speech written for him by Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online, he could possibly win a second term, but he's not and he won't.
Here are some highlights from the speech that could save Obama:
“I can blame the mistakes of my predecessor all day long, but the simple truth is that the stimulus effort did not do what I or my own economic advisers said it would.
“Worse, many of the programs and policies inherent to the stimulus were built on fictions. Indeed, much of the money we wasted — at the behest of the Democratic congressional leadership at the time — was never even intended to stimulate so much as bail out programs and local governments.
“Even more dismaying, much of our green-jobs program agenda has been an indefensible failure. In Seattle, we spent $20 million in the hope of creating 2,000 jobs and weatherizing 2,000 homes. We created 14 jobs and weatherized three houses. In Toledo, Kansas City, and Phoenix combined, we allocated $65 million and created 72 jobs. California got $186 million and created just over 500 jobs.
“Taxpayers gave $58 million to Evergreen Solar in Massachusetts. It cut 800 jobs and is now bankrupt.
“Just last week, a company my administration touted as the crown jewel of the new green economy, Solyndra Inc., announced plans to file for bankruptcy, despite half a billion dollars in loan guarantees from the federal government.
“No other country in the world refuses to exploit its natural wealth the way we do. This must end.
“We will take the tax-revenue windfall from new oil and gas exploration and invest it in basic energy and sound climate research in the hope of solving our problems through innovation instead of immiseration.
“Let me be clear: The reason there were no shovel-ready jobs is because government rules and regulations make it difficult to hire people.
“My fellow Americans, I’ve said many times I believe that government can do amazing things. I still believe that. But after more than two years of bold, persistent experimentation, it has become clear that in this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
Here's the whole article from National Review Online.
My Fellow Americans . . . - Jonah Goldberg - National Review Online
