Obama's version of Bush's the "Fundementals of the Economy are strong" comment:
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http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/03/16/1837721.aspx
While the AIG news dominated the latter parts of the Sunday conversation, don't miss the fact that Christina Romer, chair of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, helped put the administration in a bit of a spinning bind today. On "Meet the Press," when asked if the fundamentals of the U.S. economy are strong (in reference to Obama's McCain-like remark last week about the "fundamentally sound aspects of our economy"), Romer gave a McCain-like answer, circa Sept. '08: "Well, of course the fundamentals are sound in the sense that the American workers are sound, we have a good capital stock, we have good technology." And, while we're not sure if the administration wanted this out there or not, Romer also admitted that we are in a war -- an analogy the administration appeared to be sidestepping last week.
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Obama's version of Bush's consumer spending strategy:
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http://blogs.consumerreports.org/money/2009/02/question-to-obama-isnt-consumer-spending-how-we-got-into-this-mess.html
In his opening remarks during last night's news conference, President Barack Obama said his economic stimulus package "will put more money in the pockets of those Americans who are most likely to spend it, and that will help break the cycle and get our economy moving."
One of the questions the president got later on, however, challenged the idea that Americans could shop their way out of a recession.
"[I]sn't consumer spending or overspending how we got into this mess?" asked Chuck Todd of NBC News. "And if people get money back into their pockets, do you not want them saving it or paying down debt first before they start spending money into the economy?"
"I don't think it's accurate to say that consumer spending got us into this mess," Obama responded, saying that banks betting on risky assets were the root cause of the economic crisis.
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Obama's idea of taxing healthcare benefits - what he criticized McCain for doing:
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http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/03/16/news/nation/doc49bdea9073ba1726590461.txt
The Obama administration is signaling that it’s open to taxing employee health benefits, a position that President Barack Obama criticized U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for holding during last fall’s campaign.
The potential tax would finance an overhaul of the U.S. health-care system, according to reports. However, it may prove to be politically troublesome for Mr. Obama, who decried the idea, accusing Mr. McCain of ruining the health-care system for the middle class.
“So here’s John McCain’s radical plan in a nutshell,” Mr. Obama said back in October. “He taxes health-care benefits for the first time in history; millions lose the health care they have; millions pay more for the health care they get; drug and insurance companies continue to profit; and middle-class families watch the system they rely on begin to unravel before their eyes.”
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Obama's massive increase in government spending eclipses Bush's spending irresponsibility.
This guy is acting more like either Bush or McCain.
