President Barack Obama spent a good portion of his eighth full press conference in office touting his administration’s efforts to turn the nation’s weak economy around.
Responding to questions from reporters, the president accused his White House predecessor, former President George W. Bush, of creating a years-long recession America has yet to climb out of. Obama said his decision in the past year to cut taxes for middle class Americans and spend billions on domestic programs saved the U.S. from succumbing to a depression.
The president did not mention Bush by name, but argued that the two-term Republican’s poor stewardship of the economy ignited the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the months before Obama took office.
“We know where that led,” the president said of Bush’s eight years in office.
Mr. Obama touted his recent proposals to create jobs by spending even more on infrastructure. Though he would not refer to his new plan as a “stimulus” measure, he argued that last year’s Recovery Act has worked, albeit not as well as the administration had hoped. In perhaps a mini-battle over semantics, Obama told CBS’s Chip Reid his new proposal would be aimed at stimulating job growth.
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In his opening remarks before taking questions, the president spoke with a firm voice, leveling blows at Republicans for disagreeing with him on not wanting to renew tax breaks for wealthy Americans, and imploring his political opponents to stop standing in the way of passing a small business jobs bill.
“If the Republican leadership is prepared to get serious about doing something for families that are hurting out there, I would love to talk to them,” he said.
Obama did, however, kindly acknowledge Ohio Senator George Voinovich (R), who earlier in the day said he would urge his GOP colleagues to vote ‘yes’ on the bill when Congress returns to session next week.