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Obama enlists Bill Clinton's aid on economy
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama sought on Wednesday to lift sagging confidence in his economic stewardship by enlisting the help of predecessor Bill Clinton, as a leading business group issued a scathing critique of the administration's policies.
Clinton, who presided over the 1990s economic boom, was to join Obama at a White House meeting with business leaders at 2:35 p.m. Eastern time (1835 GMT) to encourage job creation and investment, including in clean energy.
Obama also consulted investment guru Warren Buffett earlier in the Oval Office as he gathered views on how to boost growth, the White House said.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a leading business group, issued a rebuke of Obama's economic agenda, accusing him and his Democrats in Congress of neglecting job creation and hampering growth with burdensome regulatory and tax policies.
Four months before the November congressional elections, Republicans have tried to paint Obama and his Democrats as anti-business.
Obama is increasingly turning to former President Clinton to help win over voters and the business community.
Clinton, seen by many in corporate America as sympathetic, has helped the White House by campaigning for Democratic candidates running in November's elections.
And Obama on Tuesday named former Clinton administration veteran Jack Lew as the White House budget chief to help cut the huge deficit.
With unemployment stubbornly high, polls have reinforced Democrats' fears of big losses in November.
A survey by The Washington Post-ABC News showed 54 percent of Americans disapproved of Obama's leadership on the economy. In a CBS News poll, only 40 percent of Americans said they approved of Obama's handling of the economy.
JOBS SAVED
To counter such perceptions, the administration trumpeted an analysis from the White House Council of Economic Advisers that said government funding of clean energy, economic development, construction projects and other initiatives was spurring "co-investment" by the private sector.
The report, unveiled by CEA Chairman Christina Romer and Vice President Joseph Biden, estimated that Obama's $862 billion economic stimulus package had saved or created roughly 3 million jobs, and was on track to meet its goal of 3.5 million jobs by the end of this year.
"The impact of the fiscal stimulus suggest that the (Recovery Act) has raised the level of GDP as of the second quarter of 2010, relative to what it otherwise would have been, by between 2.7 and 3.2 percent," the report said.
"Real GDP growth is expected to remain steady in the second half of 2010 and throughout 2011."
Republicans disputed the numbers and said Obama was letting Americans down.
"No amount of Washington spin or fuzzy math can change the fact that the trillion-dollar 'stimulus' is failing by the Obama Administration's own standards," House of Representatives Republican Leader John Boehner said in a statement.
An open letter from the Chamber of Commerce also threatened to overshadow the White House analysis. The Chamber's letter gave Obama credit for stabilizing the economy and preventing another Great Depression.
"But once accomplished, the congressional leadership and the administration took their eyes off the ball," the letter said.
"They neglected America's number one priority -- creating the more than 20 million jobs we need over the next 10 years for those who lost their jobs, have left the job market, or were cut to part-time status -- as well as new entrants into our workforce."
The Chamber released the letter to coincide with its "Jobs for America" summit in Washington on Wednesday.
A White House request to have senior Obama aide Valerie Jarrett address the event was declined because the offer came too late. The Chamber said the request arrived on Tuesday.
High budget deficits are among the complaints business groups have lodged against the Obama administration. A healthcare overhaul, financial regulatory reform and proposals to cap carbon emissions are cited by some corporate chieftains as examples of regulatory overreach.
(Additional reporting by Alister Bull and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Alistair Bell and Eric Beech)
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Obviously Obama is attempting to pump Mr. Clinton in s formal way which could only be a poachers 2nd dream at either making a offer to trap the Foundation or provide Clinton’s Foundation some viable cash money from his own assets which would endorse some spokesman opportunity Clinton may not otherwise have considered. From a monetary viewpoint I believe Mr. Clinton’s option’s may not be shy of the need of funding that could help his wife but isn’t entirely necessary and would cause some conflict of interest at the Foundation unless Mr. Clinton hoped to regain a position in the next term which Mr. Obama may hope to win for the Democrats. Mr. Clinton’s ratings are much better than Obama’s but may drop a bit having the voter opinion of two bad apples do not make for good political judgment. Not that Mr. Clinton’s economical approach is wrong but that the is actually more about Africa than Obama’s American-African future and that conflicts with many Muslim American-African’s futures which do contribute to Mr. Clinton’s Foundation. Hopefully Mrs. Clinton can get along without the need of Mr. Obama the next term if she can prove herself the lady for the position she’s catering to. Recently she has poked objection to Mr. Obama’s future ideology if that helps to diagnose this servitude action.
China proved Mrs. Clinton’s statement that China’s Holdings Threaten U.S. Security, Mar 29, 2008. In fact China pulled back the stops on ending U.S. Treasury Bonds. Mrs. Clinton needs Obama’s help to retire her multi-million-dollar campaign debt, some leverage exists. A deep affection that millions of African Americans hold for both Senator Clinton and President Clinton is still present. Democrats are failing to separate the grease from the oil and allowing the water to make more thirsty alone the way for a bigger government economy but not for the people because of greedy government taxation & insurance representation or full control.
Perhaps another bad idea was when Mrs. Clinton waived the anti-drug rule to fund Afghanistan to release $200 million in aid to the government of Afghanistan in 2009. To make available $200 Million appropriated under the heading Economic Support Funds in the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2009 (Div. H, P.L. 111-8) was all about drug dealer money payments in Afghanistan, she did not add anything to stop that option over elimination necessity of poppy dealers. Mr. Clinton did not help her make any decision, it took her four months to decide, they got plenty funds esp. not to grow poppy.
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