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Jewish World Review Feb 9, 2012/ 16 Shevat, 5772 Fudging the numbers By Cal Thomas
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The Obama administration is touting the latest unemployment numbers released last week by the As economist The way government counts things, slowing the rate of increased spending amounts to a cut and reducing the percentage of unemployed people by two-tenths of 1 percent counts as more people finding jobs, which then counts as progress. Lott examined the Real unemployment is mostly ignored by the major media, which was happy to tout the latest jobless rate reduction as a boon to President Obama and a problem for Republican frontrunner After an initial tepid reaction to the unemployment numbers, Romney rebounded, but it came a day late after the news cycle had moved on and the media cheerleading for President Obama had achieved the desired effect.
Many in the major media can't be counted on to tell the truth about the economy if doing so makes Obama and his policies look bad. Consider how some in the media collectively claimed the recession had not eased as the 1992 election neared. After the inauguration of This means the Republican nominee will have to go over or around the media to make his case. The best way to do this is not with statistics, but with real people. The Republican candidates for president should identify unemployed people who have lost their jobs, or who have given up looking for one. Have them tell their stories and let the candidates put the blame on the president and congressional Democrats whose plans to raise taxes, drastically increase spending and impose Obamacare on the country has added to the economic uncertainty and the reluctance of businesses to hire new workers. Featuring real people who are out of a job and desperately want to work would help undermine the Democrats as the party of compassion, while simultaneously blunting the Republican stereotype as the party that doesn't care about the poor. Democrats seem eager to get more people onto food stamps than to adopt policies that would free them from addiction to government and give them the dignity of a real job and the self-sufficiency that goes with it. Romney must be less reactive and more proactive, less responsive to Obama and the news of the day and more concerned with creating his own news every day. Going on the offensive about unemployment is a strategy that can work.
JWR contributor Cal Thomas is co-author with Bob Beckel, a liberal Democratic Party strategist, of "Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America". Comment by clicking here.
© 2011, Tribune Media Services, Inc.
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