Ever wonder why President Obama's polling numbers have inched down even as the economy has begun to recover due in large part to the stimulus and programs like the cash for clunkers program that resulted in 750,000 cars purchased? Well, the answer is easy. Heads conservatives win. Tales liberals lose.
Here is CNN:http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/12/health.care.economy/###
President Obama built his push for a sweeping overhaul of the health care system on the premise that reform is essential for economic recovery.
But with some economists saying the recession shows signs of ending, will that weaken Obama's argument?
"If the economy is picking up, then more people are going to get jobs and more people are going to have health insurance, and so they are going to be less concerned with health care reform because they will figure, 'I'm taken care of,' " said Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.###
Here is the LA Times:http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/healthcare/la-na-deficit-impact26-2009aug26,0,2836290.story###
News on federal deficit likely to be used against Obama's agendaThe administration now projects that the U.S. will run a $9-trillion deficit over the next decade -- $2 trillion more than estimated earlier. Republicans again say healthcare reform is too expensive.
Reporting from Washington -
A wave of bleak news Tuesday about the stagnant economy, led by a projection that the federal deficit will grow by $9 trillion over the next decade, has given opponents of President Obama's expansive domestic agenda a new opening to attack his proposed healthcare and energy overhauls.As part of its fiscal midyear review, the Obama administration said the new deficit estimate is $2 trillion more than it had projected in February when its budget initially was outlined.
On the same day, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that the federal budget deficit for fiscal 2009 would soar to $1.6 trillion, which would represent 11.2% of the nation's gross domestic product.
That's the highest percentage since the end of World War II, though slightly lower than officials had projected. The government has spent less than expected on bailing out financial institutions, the CBO said.
The new estimates prompted Republicans to sound the attack on Obama's efforts to overhaul the nation's healthcare system.
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I guess we can't win, because if we have an economic recovery, this undermines the arguments for reform, and if the recession grows worse, this weakens the arguments for reform. Oh, and I am sure there are some folks who will also blame this media bias on Obama.