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Romney Campaign Press Release - President Obama Should Take His Own Advice: "Sometimes You Can Learn From Failure'
"After more than three years in office, all President Obama can offer voters are the same broken promises and empty rhetoric he's been using since 2008. Americans deserve a president who understands how to create jobs and cut spending, not someone who is only capable of making promises he just wouldn't keep." —Andrea Saul, Romney Campaign Spokesperson
Yesterday In Florida, President Obama Told Students "You Can Learn From Failure" And Claimed "You Don't Then Just Keep Doing The Same Thing Over And Over Again":
President Obama: "Sometimes You Can Learn From Failure. ... You Don't Then Just Keep On Doing The Same Thing Over And Over Again." OBAMA: "I enjoyed science when I was young, and if I recall correctly, if an experiment fails badly, you know, you learn from that, right? Sometimes you can learn from failure. That's part of the data that teaches you stuff, that expands our knowledge, but you don't then just keep on doing the same thing over and over again. You go back to the drawing board. You try something different." (President Barack Obama, Remarks, Boca Raton, FL, 4/10/12)
But If President Obama Does Not Believe In "Doing The Same Thing Over And Over Again," How Does He Explain Doubling Down On His Failed Energy Policies?
President Obama, Yesterday: "We Should Be Expanding Our Investment In Clean Energy." OBAMA: "I believe that we cannot stop investing in the things that helped create that middle class, that create real long lasting, broad based growth in this country. ... We should be expanding our investment in clean energy." (President Barack Obama, Remarks, Boca Raton, FL, 4/10/12)
- FLASHBACK: Obama, In 2008: "I Want To Invest That Money In Clean, Affordable, Renewable Energy Sources..." OBAMA: "I want to invest that money in clean, affordable, renewable energy sources like wind power, and solar power, and biofuels, so that we're not talking about high fuel prices next summer or the next summer after that, or the summer after that." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks, Winston-Salem, NC, 4/29/08)
Under President Obama, Gas Prices Have More Than Doubled From The Nationwide Average Of $1.85 Per Gallon When He Was Sworn Into Office To $3.94 Per Gallon Today. (U.S. Energy Information Administration, www.eia.gov, Accessed 4/10/12)
The Obama Administration Loaned Over Half A Billion Dollars To Solyndra — Which Later Went Bankrupt — And Engaged In A "Risky Investment Strategy" With Other Similar Projects. "Solar panel maker Solyndra received a $528 million Energy Department loan in 2009 — and went bankrupt last year. The government's risky investment strategy didn't stop there, as a CBS News investigation has uncovered a pattern of cases of the government pouring your tax dollars into clean energy." (Sharyl Attkisson, "Tax Dollars Backing Some "Risky" Energy Projects," CBS, 1/13/12)
Of The First 12 Obama Administration Loans To Clean Energy Companies, "Two Firms Filed For Bankruptcy, A Third Has Faced Layoffs And A Fourth Deal Never Closed." "The bonuses and bankruptcies come against a growing wave of trouble for companies financed with Energy Department dollars. Of the first 12 loan guarantees the department announced, for instance, two firms filed for bankruptcy, a third has faced layoffs and a fourth deal never closed." (Ronnie Greene and Matthew Mosk, "Green Firms Get Fed Cash, Give Execs Bonuses, Fail," ABC News, 3/6/12)
And If President Obama Believes In Learning "From Failure," How Does He Explain His Calls For Even More Stimulus Spending?
President Obama, Yesterday: "It's Our Turn To Rebuild Our Roads, And Our Bridges, And Our Airports, And Our Ports." (President Barack Obama, Remarks, Boca Raton, FL, 4/10/12)
- FLASHBACK: Obama, In 2009, On His First Stimulus Package: "[We'll] Create Nearly 400,000 Jobs Rebuilding Our Roads, Our Railways, Our Dangerously Deficient Dams, Bridges And Levees." OBAMA: "We've passed a version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan through the House. Yesterday, we passed a version through the Senate. Now we've got to get a final version to my desk -- so that I can sign it and so that here in Virginia and across the country the people can use it. ... We'll invest more than $100 billion and create nearly 400,000 jobs rebuilding our roads, our railways, our dangerously deficient dams, bridges and levees." (President Barack Obama, Remarks, Springfield, VA, 2/11/09)
The President's Trillion-Dollar Stimulus Package Was "Fraught With Waste And Incompetence." "A report due to be released today by a Republican senator contends the Obama administration's stimulus program is fraught with waste and incompetence — evidenced by a turtle crossing in northern Florida that will cost more than $3 million and a snafu in which thousands of Social Security checks went out to people who had died." (Peter Nicholas, "Stimulus Program Fraught With Waste, Report Says," Los Angeles Times, 6/16/09)
President Obama In 2011: "Shovel-Ready Was Not As Shovel-Ready As We Expected." "Remember ‘shovel-ready projects.' Those were construction projects in the 2009 stimulus bill that were supposed to get moving right away ... ‘Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected,' Obama said." (David Jackson, "Obama Jokes About 'Shovel-Ready Projects'," USA Today, 6/13/11)
Thirty-Eight Straight Months Of Unemployment Above 8%: The jobless rate has been above 8% since February 2009, a thirty-eight month span unequaled in recorded history. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, 4/9/12)
"The Congressional Budget Office Is Projecting Unemployment Of More Than 8% Throughout This Election Year And Into 2014." (David Jackson, "CBO Projects 8%-Plus Unemployment Into 2014," USA Today, 2/16/12)
And President Obama May Want To Actually Cut Spending And Make An Effort To Address Our Debt And Deficits Instead Of Repeating The Same Talking Points "Over And Over Again":
President Obama, Yesterday: "[Government] Has An Obligation To Be Efficient And Effective." OBAMA: "I also believe that since government is funded by you that it has an obligation to be efficient and effective. And that's why we've eliminated dozens of programs that weren't working." (President Barack Obama, Remarks, Boca Raton, FL, 4/10/12)
- FLASHBACK: Obama, In 2008: "[The Obama Administration] Will Also Help Make Sure That Our Government — Your Government — Is More Efficient And More Effective At Serving The American People." OBAMA: "That is what the OMB will do in my administration — it will not only help design a budget and manage its implementation, it will also help make sure that our government — your government — is more efficient and more effective at serving the American people." (President-Elect Barack Obama, Remarks, Chicago, Ill, 11/25/08)
"Taxpayer Dollars Were Squandered" After GSA Officials Spent Nearly $1 Million For A Lavish Conference For Only 300 Attendees. "GSA Administrator Martha Johnson admitted in a letter of resignation that her agency had made a ‘significant misstep' and that ‘taxpayer dollars were squandered.' A GSA Inspector General's report on the 2010 GSA "Western Regions" training conference in Las Vegas shows the government spent more than $822,000 for the 300 attendees, including $75,000 on team building exercises, $6,000 on commemorative coins and $6,000 on canteens, keychains and T-shirts." (Lesa Jansen, "GSA Head Resigns Over 'Wasteful' Las Vegas Seminar," CNN, 4/2/12)
Under President Obama, The Nation's Total Public Debt Has Reached A Record $15.6 Trillion. (U.S. Department Of Treasury Website, www.treasurydirect.gov, Accessed 4/9/12)
President Obama Did "Not Come Close" To Keeping His Promise Of Cutting The Deficit In Half By The End Of His First Term. "The 2013 budget the president submitted today does not come close to meeting this promise of being reduced to $650 billion for fiscal year 2013. The president noted in that 2009 speech the Obama administration inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit. The deficit was similarly $1.3 trillion in 2011, is projected to be $1.15 trillion in 2012, and the president's budget claims it will be $901 billion in 2013." (Jack Tapper, "Obama's Broken Deficit Promise," ABC News, 2/13/12)
Mitt Romney, Romney Campaign Press Release - President Obama Should Take His Own Advice: "Sometimes You Can Learn From Failure' Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/301525