President Obama’s speech in Cleveland was muddled and predictable. Seeming to believe that a few abstract nouns, idealistic bromides, and tired attacks on the Republicans would make a difference, Obama can be certain of one thing — he didn’t convince his detractors at all.
Battle ‘10 caught up with Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio’s 4th district, to get reactions to the speech, and the response was harsh.
“I’ve been saying for a year, if big-government spending were gonna get us out of this mess, well hell, we’d have been out of this along time ago, and here he comes with same-old, same-old. It’s sort of like making a pass that you know is gonna lose in football,” Jordan said. “I thought that so-called stimulus bill was all about infrastructure. Eight hundred billion dollars was supposed to do that, but now we’re saying $50 billion will work?”
Jordan pooh-poohed the Presidents’ efforts at tax cuts, saying they were simply bait for Republicans to sign onto new spending: “It’s a Johnnie-Come-lately to what we know works. The truth is, it’s still spending, and these guys are so addicted to spending that they can’t say spending won’t work. They can’t just do the right thing, which is reduce the tax burden on families and small business owners. They still have to couple it with spending. It’s great the President has seen the light on this one finally, but they’ve coupled it with the same old same old spending.”
Jordan also suggested that the President’s strategy boiled down to one consistently held note of class warfare. “They just want to demonize the so-called rich. They seem to be addicted to that playbook as well,” Jordan said. “We’ve got to go back to the basics with these guys — they believe in government, they think it’s the answer and not just at the local level, but more government in Washington. They’re addicted to more spending, to raising taxes on the so-called rich.”
Jordan also attacked Ohio Governor Ted Strickland’s priorities in infrastructure spending, especially his commitment to a new passenger train to be built through Ohio.
“They see this quote ‘high-speed rail program,’ with the average speed being 39 miles/hour — the citizens of Ohio will always get it. There’s no way they’re falling for this high speed rail. I don’t see how this helps Ted Strickland in any way,” Jordan said. “We got pressure from some of our local mayors on this – even the people who support it are saying in year one it’s going to lose money. Even the proponents recognize this thing’s a loser and can’t sustain itself. Even by government standards, this thing’s a joke.”