In a speech earlier this week, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine gave a preview of the Democrats’ 2010 national election message. “We have more accomplishments to run on than any party in a long time,” Kaine said. Kaine then proceeded to lay out seven Democratic talking points so transparently unconvincing, I began to wonder if he’s not a Republican double agent.
1. “We’ve gone from recession to recovery.”
Unemployment is currently at 9.7 percent. Two days after Kaine’s speech, the latest gross domestic product figures were released, showing a 2.5 percent drop over the previous quarter.
Not only is growth less than stellar, without a sustained GDP boom, we’re unlikely to see unemployment recover — which is what voters really care about.
2. “We’ve made more progress in the war on terror in the last eight months than was made in the preceding eight years.”
There were two major al Qaeda terror attacks on U.S. soil in the last year — the Fort Hood shooting and the underwear bomber who very nearly took down a commercial airline flight. Both incidents revealed shocking intelligence and bureaucratic failures that should have prevented the attacks.
The administration also abandoned a wildly dangerous plan to try Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in civilian court in downtown New York. Progress!
3. “We’ve strengthened our relationships with our allies around the world.”
Inexplicably, the Obama administration refused to support the United Kingdom over Argentina in a territorial dispute over the Falkland islands. Parliament declared the “special relationship” between the United States and Britain dead. The Israeli ambassador to the U.S. publicly says the relationship between the two countries is the worst it’s been in 35 years.
Meanwhile, the White House is pressuring Congress to ease Iran sanctions for Russia and China. Who are our allies, again?
4. “Two million people or more have jobs today who wouldn’t have without the bold action taken by this president and Democrats in Congress.”
According to Pew, 62 percent of Americans say the $862 billion stimulus bill isn’t working. A recent National Association for Business Economics survey shows a majority of business economists think it didn’t create jobs. And Democrats want to tout their employment record by saying, “It could have been worse”?
5. “We have the first Latina and only the third woman ever on the Supreme Court.”
The 0.000000003 percent of the electorate comprising of female Latina Supreme Court Justices is indeed likely to vote Democratic. Touche.
6. “We’re using science and fact in policymaking instead of ideology and politics.”
Obama has removed the limitations on federal funding of embryo-destructive stem cell research, while revoking President George W. Bush’s executive order promoting research on non-embryo-destructive sources of pluripotent stem cells — which are showing more research potential than those that destroy embryos. This is bad science, bad ethics and bad politics.
7. “We have the most transparent administration in modern history, with tough ethics standards, and we are wringing the influence of special interests out of the policymaking process.”
Obama has made 51 exceptions to his pledge not to hire lobbyists in policymaking positions. For example, the White House political director was the top lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union, which spent $60 million electing Obama and Democrats in 2008.
The Democrats’ written-behind-closed-doors trillion-dollar health care reform bill was a special interest carnival, most egregiously shaped by an under-the-table $100 million buy-off from Big Pharma. And the executive director of the Sunlight Foundation pronounced herself “speechless” at how badly the president’s ballyhooed “Open Government Initiative” has failed.
Most. Transparent. Administration. Ever.
If this is the best the DNC can do — well, be glad you’re not a Democrat running for Congress.
Mark Hemingway is an editorial page staff writer for the Examiner. He can be reached at [email protected].
