DNC chair says Republicans rooting for bad economy
(CNN) – Republicans looking to defeat President Barack Obama in November’s general election are rooting for the American economy to fail, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee said in an interview Sunday.
Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said criticism from Republicans on Friday’s worse-than-expected jobs report was reflective of their political motives.
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“What's really bothersome to me is that it almost seems like my Republican colleagues in Congress and Mitt Romney are rooting for economic failure,” Wasserman Schultz told CNN chief political correspondent Candy Crowley. “I mean, they've been hyper focused on one job, Barack Obama's, for really the last two years. And we all need to be pulling together to focus on moving the economy forward for the middle class and for working families.”
On Friday, the Department of Labor reported 120,000 jobs were created in March, fewer than most economists had predicted. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.2% as Americans dropped out of the workforce. The report was met with scathing criticism from Republicans, who said the jobs figures reflected failed economic policies from the Obama administration.
On Sunday, Wasserman Schultz lauded what she said were substantial economic gains under Obama.
“Because we've now had 25 straight months of private sector job growth, more than 4 million jobs created, and where actually at this point in our recovery, we've created seven times more jobs than at the same point in the recovery in 2001, I’d say we're making slow but steady progress,” Wasserman Schultz said.
She slammed GOP plans as focused only on “making sure millionaires and billionaires can continue to do even better.”
“That's a pretty huge contrast,” she said.
The DNC chairwoman also assailed her GOP rivals for efforts she said were meant to restrict women’s rights, saying policies that allow employers to deny health insurance coverage for contraception amounted to a stripping away of rights.
“The focus of the Republican Party on turning back the clock for women really is something that's unacceptable and shows how callous and insensitive they are towards women's priorities,” she said.
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Watch State of the Union with Candy Crowley Sundays at 9am ET. For the latest from State of the Union click here.
The republicans have been rooting for more economic decline since Obama took office and have done everything they can to see that further decline would become a reality. Had they put the country first and worked with the administration for a recovery – we would be in a much better posisition then we are now – with so many horses in the team dragging their feet to keep the wagon moving slow. They work from a posisition of negativity – as is eveident in Romney's primary bid. Mitt has nothing new to offer other than more negativity and a hope for a downward turnaround.
You people are funny. Libs think the economy is coming back. Hahahahaha if the jobs universe was the same as 2008, unemployment would be 10.6 percent. Grow brains liberal drones. Your wonder boy president is a fraud
If a Republican becomes president, the economy really will fail. All conservatives want to do is give huge tax breaks to the people who need them least, and keep alive a foreign policy that's akin to poking a hornets' nest.
Well, there's the truth part.
When does the 'set us free' part kick in?
I would love for any of you Repub supporters to explain how it is Obama's policies that are not working when most of his policies haven't gone into effect due to the Repubs stopping them from doing so. It was the Repubs that ran on jobs in 2010 so any not so good news about jobs should lay at their feet, not Obama's. What exactly have they done to help the economy – NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH! The unemployment rate can't improve when states run by the Repubs are laying off public employees in huge numbers. Look at what they have been concerning themselves with since 2010 – anit-abortion bills, war on religion, busting unions, repealing equal pay for women (Scott Walker), etc. Absolutely NOTHING constructive for our nation.
Debbie also said that the repubs were taking the country back to the day of Jim Crow, you know, the days when dems ran everything. Name the last time democrats have stepped back and said they wanted a repub president to be re elected, you can't. The fact is that Obama and dems have gotten about everything they wanted as far as legislation and the economy is still in the tank. What bill has been fillibustered that would have helped the economy ?
Lets not forget that when Bush beat Al Gore the democrats said Bush was not elected and tried to keep him out of the white house, so much for putting America first.
I love how these Repubs are always calling for smaller government and out of one side of their mouth they say government doesn't create jobs, yet they want to elect Romney to create jobs and apparently lower gas prices. Everything they say is contradictory – if one is really paying attention they will definitely see the hypocrisy that these Repubs spew. They are now blaming Obama for high gas prices, yet when they shot up under Bush, we were told by the right that the President doesn't control gas prices. They are constantly bashing and lying about Obama yet when Bush was in charge we were told by the right that it was treasonous to talk badly about the President especially when we were fighting wars. They are such hypocrites and I am so sick of hearing them. What's more upsetting is that none of these so-called news people and pundits don't call them out on it.
While it was GOP policy that caused the destruction of America, they certainly cannot hope that the Dems fix it......again. Two faced losers, the GOP.
Yea, I guess Republicans shouldn't be knocking down Obama, but isn't it amazing that Obama has been in office almost 4 years and he is still blaming Bush for things that are happening in his watch. Has anybody noticed that Obama has not done anything wrong, it's always somebody elses fault. A true leader admits when he's wrong about something, he doesn't blame everything on everybody else. I agree that all this back and forth bickering between Republicans and Democrats needs to stop, but that has to start with the President. He has to set the example and as of late, he hasn't done it in almost 4 years.
This is the GOP "open secret" because they are all praying for the economy to get worse so they can blame president Obama!!!
Why would any American be surprised by this?!!!
If it wasn't for demagoguery Wassermann would be mute, an outrageous loose cannon....She's not an asset to any party unless your courting the ignorant....
@ReallY!!?
"Yes because it cannot be Obama's fault, the economic growth is so weak. It is because the Republican wish for a weak economy that we actually have a weak economy."
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If half of the members of a sports team are trying to lose how well could the team do in competition? The Republicans weren't simply "wishing". They were actively working toward a bad economic recovery.
So that's it. Republican wishes is what has caused the unemployment. Not Obama policies, but Republican wishes.
"Hey liberal/progressive/socialist democrats, keep going down this road you are on and the country will soon become the Federal Republic of America. With big government controlling everything from the economy to your personal life. Long gone will be any personal responsibilities or freedoms"
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You need to wake up and see the reality of what your Repub party is doing. They are the ones controlling our personal life and want to take away a woman's choice of birth control, abortion, and healthcare. They are the ones who won't let gays live the happiest lives they are entitled to. They are the ones who want to take away our freedom to not have to worry about going bankrupt over medical bills. You all talk about personal responsibility yet you're fine with accepting people not having health insurance so you can pay their bills when they can't. YOU ALL DON'T MAKE ANY SENSE!
Sorry but you're wrong again. And courting the ignorant is the exclusive reserve of the republicans, which probably explains your comment. Now did you see how I used those two words: your and you're? Hope that helps.
accusations with out citing anything to back it up. CNN reports it as gospel.
Dear Michel: please look up the unemployment numbers in January 2009. kthxbai.
Sadly the worst is yet to come. The enormous debt that Obama and previous administrations have saddled us with is staggering. We are facing inflation like you have never seen. Unless we do something to address the massive debt we carry, the economy will be in the doldrums for decades. Obama didn't cause the entire mess – he just made it exponentially worse.
I would like to see us open up more oil reserves for drilling – with the stipulation that a percentage of any oil recovered from public lands be sold to the US Government at cost. I'm not for nationalizing the industry, but we have to have a plan for energy security. We should also continue to build more Nuclear Plants and increase research on affordable Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology.
Wasserman – Shultz is a bag of hot air – the only reason she opens her fat mouth is to change feet.
Underachievers have never advanced society. Only the over achievers advance society in spite of the overwhelming mass of underachievers. The political class and the democrats in particular place more value on the underachiever than those that advance us.