A Strategy of Lies, Deception, and Deflection.

With nothing positive to point to in his first term, President Obama has had to adopt an alternative campaign strategy.  It seems they believe they can bamboozle a majority of American voters to vote for Obama again through a strategy of lies, deception, and deflection. 

The lies and revolve around what is being reported about the economy.  Obama is out making speeches touting that his programs are working.  He tells people that we tried it their way, meaning the free market way, and it did not work.  This is a bold-faced lie for the problems we are now facing are due to years of government intervention in the free market.  For example, let us look at the housing market.

The introduction of the Community Reinvestment Act by President Carter and its expansion by the Clinton administration forced banks to issue risky mortgages to individuals who did not have the ability to repay them (1).  The government promised banks that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack would back these loans so the banks believed they were safe.  However, the wave of foreclosures was so extreme that Fannie and Freddie ran out of money leaving the banks holding the bag.  The lie spread by Obama and his cronies that the banks were at fault is a false accusation because all the banks were doing was following the law.  In other words, there was no free market when it came to the banking industries issuing of home mortgages (2). 

The deception revolves around the unemployment numbers.  The July jobs report stated that the economy gained 163,000 jobs in July.  However, this was a seasonally adjusted number.  The reasons for seasonal adjustments are for example school districts let people go during the summer and retailers hire for the Christmas season.  Removing seasonal adjustments results in the July report saying the economy actually lost 1.2 million jobs in July.  This wide discrepancy in the numbers is leading some economists to believe the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) numbers might be skewed (3). 

We know the labor participation rate has dropped by over 2 million workers since Obama took office.  What this statistic tells us is that many have dropped out of the workforce since Obama took office (4).  We have also seen an increase of both people on food stamps and disability since 2008 (5) (6).  I believe many of the over 2 million not in the workforce are now on disability and food stamps and if something is not done fast they will become permanently dependent on the government.  Nevertheless, Obama continues to tell us his policies are working.  

The deflection strategy is the administration’s attempt to get voters thinking about issues other than the economy.  Examples are the recent uproar in the gay community over comments made by the CEO of chick-fil-a (7) and the continual demands by the left for Romney’s tax returns.  In fact, Harry Reid stooped to a new low this week by saying he had a credible source that knew Romney had not paid any taxes for 10 years (8).  Of course Reid will not reveal his source so we can check it out for ourselves. 

Our weapons against these lies, deceptions, and deflections are the truth.  Political avengers, we need to use Twitter, Facebook, Email, and any other means of communication that we have available to get out the truth.  The election is less than three months away and we must win this one for if we do not, I shudder to think what this country may look like in 2016. 

1. Tucker, William. And You Thought the Housing Crisis Was Over! spectator.org. [Online] The American Spectator, July 27, 2012. [Cited: August 7, 2012.] http://spectator.org/archives/2012/07/27/and-you-thought-the-housing-cr.

2. Carney, John. Here's How The Community Reinvestment Act Led To The Housing Bubble's Lax Lending. articles.businessinsider.com. [Online] Business Insider, June 27, 2009. [Cited: August 7, 2012.] http://articles.businessinsider.com/2009-06-27/wall_street/30009234_1_mortgage-standards-lending-standards-mortgage-rates.

3. Plumer, Brad. Wait, the U.S. economy actually lost 1.2 million jobs in July? washingtonpost.com. [Online] The Washington Post, August 5, 2012. [Cited: August 7, 2012.] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/05/wait-the-u-s-economy-actually-lost-1-2-million-jobs-in-july/.

4. Sober Look. Employment participation rate shows a troubling trend. soberlook.com. [Online] Sober Look, February 6, 2012. [Cited: August 7, 2012.] http://soberlook.com/2012/02/employment-participation-rate-shows.html.

5. Tucker, Rich. Rise in Food Stamps Part of Growing Dependence on Washington. blog.heritage.org. [Online] the Heritage Foundation, August 2, 2012. [Cited: aUGUST 7, 2012.] http://blog.heritage.org/2012/08/02/rise-in-food-stamps-part-of-growing-dependence-on-washington/.

6. Gongloff, Mark. Rise In Disability Rolls Helps Explain An Unemployment Mystery. huffingtonpost.com. [Online] Huff Post Business, May 8, 2012. [Cited: July 18, 2012.] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/03/social-security-disability_n_1474621.html.

7. Geraghty, Jim. The Great Chick-fil-a War of 2012. nationalreview.com. [Online] National Review Online, August 2, 2012. [Cited: August 7, 2012.] http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/312956/great-chick-fil-war-2012.

8. Benson, Guy. Surprise: Obama Campaign Explicitly Approved Reid's Anti-Romney Lies. townhall.com. [Online] Town Hall.Com, August 4, 2012. [Cited: August 7, 2012.] http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2012/08/04/surprise_obama_campaign_explicitly_approved_reids_lies_about_romneys_taxes.