Incredulously, Jay Carney, Obama’s Press Secretary said “President Obama can and should be re-elected even if the economy fails to improve.”
Carney spoke in response to a question at the White House briefing by Jake Tapper of ABC News, who noted an employment report, which showed that hiring continues to lag. Carney said Obama should win because the election will be about his vision for the future.
Here’s the excerpt from last Tuesday’s White House Briefing:
TAPPER: Can he get reelected if the economy is not significantly improved and does he deserve to?
CARNEY: Yes, and here’s why: because what the election will be about is whose vision for America’s future is best, whose ideas for moving America forward are best. And what we confidently believe is that the American people will see in President Obama’s view for the future the right answers.
Carney’s statement even contradicts Obama’s own prediction about his reelection chances, according to which the president has until February 2012 to fix the economy or be denied a second term.
“I will be held accountable,” Obama told NBC’s Matt Lauer on Feb. 1, 2009. “If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”
Most economists now believe that economic growth will remain sluggish at best through 2012, with some chance that the economy will actually slip back into recession.
Carney’s response to Tapper fits with the new emphasis in Obama’s campaign remarks on his vision of America’s character and future.
It appears that the only vision that the voters see is Obama relocating back to Chicago.
***Ed Randazzo, is a nationally syndicated author. He has been a conservative activist and consultant for over 30 years and is currently the Chief News Editor of Life and Liberty Media***
