Green Job Costs~Leadership We Can`t Count On

Gateway Pundit has an interesting commentary on a recent “Obama lauding” of a Michigan company:.

And, you wonder why we were downgraded? With leadership like this? Seriously?

President Barack Obama toured a vehicle battery plant in Michigan on Thursday. During his visit Obama touted his administration’s focus on green technology and jobs. Thanks to the Obama-Pelosi failed stimulus bill this same corporation has created “green” jobs at a cost of about $2 million in federal subsidies per job. This is Barack Obama’s definition of success.

Today in his Weekly Address, Barack Obama praised this same battery plant as the way forward.

What do Dems have to say about the leadership that got us into this mess?

Democrats describe a White House which has been aloof on the debt crisis

“Political thermonuclear explosion.”  “‘Forget about the economic consequences, which could be very bad, this is a political thermonuclear explosion that probably just wiped out President Obama’s re-elect,’ fretted one senior Democratic official. ‘The worst part is, if this White House showed a gram of leadership on the debt crisis we could have avoided this historic embarrassment.’”  (Jonathan Allen, “S&P spurs blame game,” Politico, 8/6/11)

“The numbers add up to defeat.”  “Privately, however, Obama’s team is concerned about the factors beyond its control, talking of an imminent need to retool their economic message and strategy heading into 2012. Absent the president’s ability to defy political gravity, one Obama adviser conceded, ‘The numbers add up to defeat.’”  (Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, “Obama’s big drags,” Politico, 8/4/11)

“The president has been invisible.”  MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough: “[D]emocrats all saying the same thing. And that is this president has been invisible. He is not a leader. They said this all behind closed doors. Democratic leaders, Democratic rank and file – in fact, 40-50 of the most powerful Democrats on the Hill, I will just stop right there. … The president has vanished. ‘He has left us here alone again like he did with healthcare. Where is he?’ Now they didn’t call him a loser but they sure as hell didn’t call him a leader.” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 7/29/11)

S&P downgrade “damaging.”  “The real reason for White House fury at S&P is that it realizes how symbolically damaging this downgrade is to President Obama’s economic record. Democrats can rail all they want about the tea party, but Republicans have controlled the House for a mere seven months.” (Editorial, “America Gets Downgraded,” Wall Street Journal, 8/8/11)

S&P official: Another downgrade will come if we don’t reduce long-term debt

Hot Air has this update to a post about what the S&P wishes to see:

Update: If we don’t stabilize and reduce our long-term liabilities soon, we’ll get downgraded again, says S&P:

The credit rating agency’s managing director, John Chambers, tells ABC’s “This Week” that if the fiscal position of the U.S. deteriorates further, or if political gridlock tightens even more, a further downgrade is possible.

Chambers also said Sunday that it would take “stabilization and eventual decline” of the federal debt as a share of the economy as well as more consensus in Washington for the U.S. to win back a top rating.

He puts the odds of another downgrade at 3:1.  I’d call it even money, at least while Democrats continue to blame the Tea Party for, er, wanting to do exactly what S&P demands.