What Has Obama Done, Getting the Facts Right

by Errington C. Thompson, MD

Last month, I called on all Democrats and progressives to combat distortions and lies with something ridiculously simple: the truth. If you’ve taken time to listen to the GOP debates, I must applaud your strength and perseverance. These debates have sucked IQ points out of my head.

The combination of inane questions and sound-bite answers has been mind-numbing. The constant theme of these debates is that President Barack Obama knows nothing about the economy and has done everything wrong. As a matter fact, some have argued that we are worse off today because of Barack Obama.

Let’s check the facts. When Barack Obama took office in January, 2009,
we were in the worst recession since the Great Depression. Over the
previous 13 months—the final year of George W. Bush’s presidency—the
economy had lost 1.7 million jobs. His first full month in office, the
economy lost 589,000 jobs.

Some economists estimated that without the economic stimulus package
demanded by President Obama, our unemployment rate would have soared to
almost 12 percent. I hate to disagree with the experts, but…I disagree.
We need to remember the pessimism that was pervasive throughout the
country. Without economic stimulus and following the conservative
prescription to cut federal and state spending, I think our economic
situation would have been much worse. If federal, state, and local
governments had been shedding jobs in 2009, our unemployment rate would
have easily exceeded 15 percent. We would have been stuck in a vicious
feedback loop of pessimism breeding dire economic projections feeding
back into more pessimism. Every company would have rushed to shed jobs.

Yet, that didn’t happen. The unemployment rate peaked at 10 percent and
has been slowly declining ever since. Private businesses have added
jobs every month for the last 22 months. Obama and the stimulus package
had something to do with this turnaround.

Remember the auto “bailout”? The big three—General Motors, Ford, and
Chrysler—were in trouble. Ford asserted that they had begun turning
things around and were okay. There was no such rosy news from GM or
Chrysler: they were in dire straits. Republicans like Senators Jon Kyl
of Arizona and Richard Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Senator on the
banking committee, had nothing but contempt and scorn for the bailout
plan. They, like many conservatives, stated that we were just delaying
the day of reckoning and that Detroit does not make cars that people
want.

The collapse of General Motors and Chrysler would have caused tens of
thousands of Americans to lose their jobs. All the suppliers of
batteries, leather seats, sound systems, and spark plugs would have been
in jeopardy of bankruptcy also. Tens of thousands of job losses would,
through Republican magic, have turned into hundreds of thousands of job
losses.

Many conservatives asserted, and perhaps believed, that Ford could step
into the void and become a leaner, stronger, and more prosperous
company if the government would allow the collapse of General Motors and
Chrysler. Like Paul Krugman, I believe that Ford would have been sucked
into the black hole as more and more Americans would have postponed
buying a car while the economy continued to collapse.

The death of Ford, GM and Chrysler would have thrown not just Michigan
but the whole Midwest into a deep depression. The Obama administration
decided this was not an option. They spent taxpayer money and rescued
the auto industry with an emergency loan; they also demanded, in
exchange, revisions to corporate policy, management, and leadership. The
auto industry reorganized, streamlined, and roared back.

In April 2010, General Motors repaid its loan to the American people.
Chrysler repaid its loan in May of 2011. According to The New York
Times, the American people made $368 million in interest and profits on
the loan package—a tidy return on a “bailout.”

When President Obama took office, we were engaged in two wars, and
Osama bin Laden was alive and breathing. Now, we are out of Iraq. Osama
bin Laden is dead. We are winding down our involvement in Afghanistan.
Many top Al Qaeda officials have been killed in Afghanistan, Yemen, and
throughout the Middle East.

Do you remember when Somali pirates took an American ship captain
hostage? Barack Obama ordered the Navy SEALs to take the shot which
freed the captain and eliminated the Somali pirate.

Remember when the Libyan people began to rise up in anger against the
regime they had lived under for forty years? President Barack Obama
showed skill and expertise when he chose to take a supporting role,
successfully “leading from behind.” Longtime Libyan dictator and
terrorist Muammar Kadhafi is dead. The Libyan people are now struggling
to figure out how to form a government. This amazing feat was performed
at a cost of less than $1 billion and no American lives lost.

Some conservatives have stated that Barack Obama has appeased our
enemies; their leading candidate for president accuses the president of
going around the world apologizing for America. Maybe these
conservatives don’t understand the meaning of appeasement, or of
success. It seems to me that Barack Obama has used a variety of
methods—police action, military force, intelligence support—to eliminate
our enemies, strengthen our position in the world, and make America
safer.

President Barack Obama has excelled in the face of unprecedented
opposition. He hasn’t been perfect. He has fought for American jobs and
the American worker; he has avoided getting us entangled in foreign
conflicts while still achieving American goals; he has helped the
country turn a corner from the worst financial collapse in 75 years. In
short, he’s done a great deal right, and very little wrong.

Those are the facts in the real world.

Unfortunately, those in the political world see those facts through a
lens that, like a funhouse mirror, distorts the truth. What they see is a
man who has done a great deal right despite all their obstructionism,
filibustering, lies, and Fox News, and who will not bow down before
them. In short, Barack Obama has been brilliant, and those who wanted to
see him fail are incensed.