DNC chair: Unemployment didn’t go up under Obama!

posted at 10:35 am on December 12, 2011 by Ed Morrissey

Denial — it ain’t just a river in Egypt. Appearing on Fox News this morning, DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz insisted that unemployment didn’t go up in Barack Obama’s term of office, a hilarious argument on several levels. Debbie Downer then lectures Gretchen Carlson that “your narrative doesn’t work any longer,” to which a bemused Carlson responds that she’s just relating the facts:

Here are a few facts that seem to have gotten past Wasserman Shultz as the head of a major political party, and as a member of Congress:

  • Jobless rate in January 2009: 7.8%.  Jobless rate in November 2011: 8.6%.
  • Number of employed in January 2009, in thousands: 133,563.  In November 2011: 131,708
  • Civilian participation rate in January 2009: 65.7%.  In November 2011: 64.0%
  • Unemployment level in January 2009, in thousands: 11,984.  In November 2011: 13,303
  • Number of people not in labor force, January 2009, in thousands: 80,554.  In November 2011: 86,558

The number of jobs has declined almost 2 million during Obama’s term even without accounting for the 3 million-plus working-age adults who joined the population while Obama has been President, while the number of people not in the labor force has risen by six million.  To give some perspective to that number, it took this measure six years to add six million people (Feb 2003 to Jan 2009), while it took Obama less than three years to achieve it.  It’s also worth noting that this growth in disconnected potential workers and the associated drop in the civilian-participation rate is almost entirely responsible for the published jobless rate being as low as it is, and the exodus of 315,000 workers from the workforce last month is certainly responsible for the drop that Debbie Downer heralds in this interview.

Maybe the DNC should consider having a chair who has some connection to reality.  But what fun would that be for the rest of us?

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Granted that this is going to be a presidential election year, but I think that the GOP is missing an opportunity by using Jan 2009 when they should be using Jan 2007 for comparison purposes.

Jan 2007 is when Nancy and Harry got their chance to mess things up, and “bent the curve” they did… down. Barack’s election in 2008 was just more fuel to a fire that was already burning.

monkeyboy on December 12, 2011 at 2:48 PM

Debbie seems to be an able student of the famed political philosopher Joseph Goebbels whose greatest contribution to the worlds knowledge was the theory that if you tell a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. Debbie is not yet as able as the master but she is operating under a handicap: Joseph’s party controlled the media even more than Debbie’s party.

burt on December 12, 2011 at 2:52 PM

I’ll have some of whatever Debbie is smoking . . .

tpitman on December 12, 2011 at 3:01 PM

PLEASE put this woman on tv more often. Being the face of the Dem party, she certainly is a huge turnoff to the Independent voters.

Redford on December 12, 2011 at 3:02 PM

Nothing to see here. Not defending this trout, but she said that it isn’t currently going up. Let it go.

Pablo Snooze on December 12, 2011 at 3:11 PM

I constantly wonder…

Does she actually believe the stuff she says, or does she know full well she is selling disingenuous tripe to the masses?

gravityman on December 12, 2011 at 3:12 PM

Bush was a terrible president who did many many things which continue to cause us grief. Not least of these is he didnt use an overt veto or a pocket veto once during his first term. Together with congress he put the economy in a ditch.

Following history, when we have a terrible Republican president we have a worse Democratic president. Now our country is an ObamaNation.

burt on December 12, 2011 at 3:18 PM

Jar-Jar hasn’t aged well. And she made more sense in the movie.

Joe Mama on December 12, 2011 at 3:22 PM

Debbie wasserman schultz and Nancy Pelosi what a combo

gerrym51 on December 12, 2011 at 3:24 PM

I can understand misquoting, twisting facts, shading the truth, spin, even, on some occasions, the silly expression, “mispoke.”

What I have difficulty understanding is this kind of blatant, in your face, conscienceless lying. And when it was pointed out to her, I believe I read that her response was “That’s not true, i.e. the truth is not true.

I do hope she becomes the “Face of the Demoncrat Party” for 2012.

Horace on December 12, 2011 at 3:24 PM

I imagine that the job application for DNC chair has four questions on it:

Are you a Democrat?
Are you a hardcore liberal?
Can you blame Bush at the drop of a hat?
Can you lie?

Actually, the last question is probably the only one the DNC needs to ask.

Logus on December 12, 2011 at 3:25 PM

Debbie wasserman schultz and Nancy Pelosi what a combo

gerrym51 on December 12, 2011 at 3:24 PM

True. Both are charter members of the “Scared Their Own Shadow Club.”

viking01 on December 12, 2011 at 3:33 PM

This is coming from a woman who thinks that making voters prove they’re eligible to vote is “rigging an election.”

Because Dem cheating is the *starting point*, the baseline where she wants to start.

Merovign on December 12, 2011 at 3:42 PM

I can’t tell you how pleased I was when Ministry of Rations Chairperson Debbie W-S raised my chocolate ration from 3 grams/week to 2.2 grams/week.

tom daschle concerned on December 12, 2011 at 3:45 PM

This is probably an example of “Lib-Math.” You know the kind of math that says when Dems want to spend an extra 10 percent on a project and the Republicans want to spend an extra 3 percent, the Dems take out an ad claiming the Republicans want to cut the popular program by 7 percent.

For example: Unemployemnt was 7 percent when Obama took office. Without Obama’s masterful handling of the economy we all know unemployment would have reached 20 percent, therefore Obama cut uneployment by over 10 percent. (20 minus 9.6 = Happy-Days-Are-Here-Again).

Fred 2 on December 12, 2011 at 3:51 PM

If she wanted a line…
Unemployment went up 85% under Bush (good lord!), and thus far under Obama has increased a comparatively much less 10% (a modest increase).
Of course it’s pure silliness to suggest those facts mean anything – but seldom does anyone object to pure silliness when discussing these things.

verbaluce on December 12, 2011 at 3:55 PM

She apparently gets a lot from the Shultz side: “I know NOTHING!”

crosspatch on December 12, 2011 at 4:05 PM

Seems to me that Gretchen is the ONLY one that actually wants to question the falsehoods that the DNC and DWS continue to offer up. When a guest, on any network, flat out lies, the journalist(?) conducting the interview simply MUST instantly and intently correct their facts. It may come down to talking to them like the kindergartners they are. Just say, “if you are not going to deal in facts and reality, there’s no use going on with this interview”. Once the interview is over, the elected Rep’s email & address should be shown prominently for all viewers to use.

Bottom line; if we allow them to lie, they will continue to do it, and others will believe the lies as truth.

shedlox on December 12, 2011 at 4:15 PM

This woman is such a moron. I would say the biggest moron in politics today, but there’s always Pelosi keeping the title safely in her own corner.

americanmama on December 12, 2011 at 4:32 PM

Subjectivity leaves a lot of wiggle room for the liberal to move
around with it’s multi valued approach to the truth.

I have a theory the excess BS spewing from her causes positive pressure in her mouth. That’s why she sounds like that.

jomondo44 on December 12, 2011 at 4:45 PM

DWS is the prototypical democrat. She is incapable of anything but partisanship and lies. It’s individuals like her that turn the public off to politics.She epitomizes everything that’s wrong with politics today.

RWRFAN on December 12, 2011 at 4:45 PM

DNC chair: My IQ Unemployment didn’t go up under Obama!

Hard Right on December 12, 2011 at 4:53 PM

DWS. Like all strippers, she’s prettier when she’s crying.

Abiss on December 12, 2011 at 5:02 PM

This is what happens to your brain after too many perms one becomes a liberal.

St Gaudens on December 12, 2011 at 5:05 PM

alternate universe…

jimver on December 12, 2011 at 5:19 PM

As the old radio financial guy Bruce Williams would say, she’s “industrial-strength stupid”.

Ward Cleaver on December 12, 2011 at 5:24 PM

Here are a few facts that seem to have gotten past Wasserman Shultz as the head of a major political party, and as a member of Congress:
Jobless rate in January 2009: 7.8%.  Jobless rate in November 2011: 8.6%.
Number of employed in January 2009, in thousands: 133,563.  In November 2011: 131,708
Civilian participation rate in January 2009: 65.7%.  In November 2011: 64.0%
Unemployment level in January 2009, in thousands: 11,984.  In November 2011: 13,303
Number of people not in labor force, January 2009, in thousands: 80,554.  In November 2011: 86,558

I’ve heard this argument before. They don’t count jobs lost with Obama cuz those jobs were lost when we were running the government under the Bush budget!

With that logic NO jobs have been lost under Obama cuz Obama as failed to get a budget passed in the last 940 days!
And Obama needs 4 more years to get a budget through Congress

DSchoen on December 12, 2011 at 5:29 PM

Unemployment went up 85% under Bush (good lord!), and thus far under Obama has increased a comparatively much less 10% (a modest increase).

verbaluce on December 12, 2011 at 3:55 PM

That’s a lie. Unemployment DECREASED under Bush once the Bush Tax Cuts were passed.

You are blaming Bush for what the Democrats did to the economy once they took control of Congress in January 2007. Unemployment increased over 110% under Speaker Pelosi.

As another commenter noted:

Under Speaker Pelosi, unemployment more than doubled.

What was unemployment in December 2006, just before Pelosi took over as Speaker of the House? 4.4%

What was unemployment 4 years later, in December 2010, the last year of Pelosi’s Reign? 9.4%

NCITTRP on December 12, 2011 at 12:42 PM

and

Even in the wake of the one-two punch of the Dot Com bust and the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks, unemployment peaked at only 6.4% in June 2003, and then fell steadily over the next 3 and a half years down to 4.4%. Why? I think the Bush tax cuts went a long way toward keeping unemployment low and preventing a much worse recession/depression.

What turned that around and sent unemployment skyrocketing?
In January 2007, Democrats took control of Congress.

Democrats took unemployment from 4.4% to a high of 10.1%, and think the fudged-numbers “progress” since then is something to be proud of…

If you want to impress me, Democrats, get unemployment down to where it was when Republicans last controlled the House, Senate and Presidency.

NCITTRP on December 12, 2011 at 12:55 PM

ITguy on December 12, 2011 at 5:41 PM

When I was six, I saw something very much like her. It was in the “The Snake Woman” tent at the carnival.

TheClearRiver on December 12, 2011 at 5:43 PM

As Levin says, “What a Yenta!”

Saltine on December 12, 2011 at 5:45 PM

And from a commenter at Michelle Malkin’s site:

On December 10th, 2011 at 4:35 pm, Green eyed Lady said:

You know how little Barry and friends always like to say they inherited this mess and it’s all Bush’s fault??

REMEMBER JANUARY 3, 2007

The day the Democrats took over was not January 22nd 2009, it was actually January 3rd 2007, the day the Democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate, at the very start of the 110th Congress.

The Democratic Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995.

For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is “Bush’s Fault”, think about this:
January 3rd, 2007, the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress:

The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.77
The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%
The Unemployment rate was 4.6%
George Bush’s Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB CREATION!

Remember that day…
January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee.

The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy?

BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!

THANK YOU DEMOCRATS (especially Barney ) for taking us from 13,000 DOW, 3.5 GDP and 4.6% Unemployment…to this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6 TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FIASCOES!

(BTW: Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie -starting in 2001 because it was financially risky for the US economy). Barney blocked it and called it a “Chicken Little Philosophy” (and the sky did fall!)

And who took the THIRD highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac? OBAMA.

And who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie?
OBAMA and the Democrat Congress, especially BARNEY!!

So when someone tries to blame Bush…
REMEMBER JAN UARY 3rd, 2007…. THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!”

Bush may have been in the car but the Democrats were in charge of the gas pedal and steering wheel, they were driving the economy into the ditch.

Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party.
Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for 2008 & 2009 as well as 2010 & 2011.

In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.

For 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the 2009 budget.

And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete 2009. Let’s remember what the deficits looked like during that period:

If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets.

If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.

And then he voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th.

ITguy on December 12, 2011 at 5:46 PM

Being the DNC chair must be a ticket to another universe never mind planet.

Kissmygrits on December 12, 2011 at 6:04 PM

I prefer Medusa to this DWS. This despite the similarities in hairstyle.

Snakes over fakes any day.

Sherman1864 on December 12, 2011 at 6:18 PM

Don’t forget, Debbie is the DNC chair which means she always bears the imprint of the last butt that sat on her.

Marxism is for dummies on December 12, 2011 at 6:22 PM

The US Unemployment Rate January 1948 to October 2011

Case Closed

franksalterego on December 12, 2011 at 6:43 PM

This lady is the gift that keeps on giving. I am not sure this will be good for the Democrats as the man on the street knows at least someone still unemployed or someone recently laid off. My company just laid off a few people and some of my neighbors were also let go. Are those people inexistent in this lady’s mind?

ojfltx on December 12, 2011 at 6:54 PM

i bet she thinks the economy was a roaring success under jimmy carter too.

mojack on December 12, 2011 at 7:02 PM

It ain’t that Whatser-name Shlitz is all that dumb, it’s that she’s hoping that you are.

S. D. on December 12, 2011 at 8:41 PM

AYE!, Laddie —–

But Do Ya HAAAAAATE mmmMMMMBOOOOOOOOOOOSH?!!!!!!!

williamg on December 12, 2011 at 9:34 PM

Every time I see her picture I remember the poster reminding us of Cameron Diaz’ hair product substitute in the movie Something about Mary…………..

After that, anything she says is pretty much irrelevant, I’m too busy laughing to pay attention!

Head of the DNC.

REALLY?

Tenwheeler on December 12, 2011 at 9:48 PM

This woman is insane. And WHAT is with the hair, honey? I know. That’s cheap. But so too are her flat out lies re U.S. jobs figures. She must be the one who came up with the “jobs created OR saved” metric.

minnesoter on December 12, 2011 at 11:48 PM

“Wasserman! We need someone to go out there and be totally stupid! Are you up for the job?”

“Yes sir!”

TerryW on December 13, 2011 at 8:35 AM

Karen Harrignton needs to gather up ALL of Debbie’s patently false statement, put them into a compaign ad, and then ask south Florida citizens if this is the sort of representation they are wanting in Washington.

Good grief this woman will say anything to promote obama’s agenda.

I keep wondering, “WHY didn’t Gretchen just call out this BI-otch during this interview.” You know, pull out a “Karl Rove” style white board and show DWS that she is wrong and a LIAR.

You know what. I have some work to do for Karen. I wont wait for thier campaign, I think I visit Youtube and start the process rolling. Remember, Florida already gotten rid of one neanderthal, Alan Grayson, now I think we need to remove this parasite from Broward county.

IFTYS on December 13, 2011 at 9:30 AM

Ms. Schultz has once again plummeted to the heights of stupidity.

seniorcanuk on December 13, 2011 at 9:38 AM

Hot Air seems to have completely missed what Schultz did – or at least didn’t call it for what it was.

She pulled a favorite progressive tactic creating a straw man argument and attributed to Carlson. The Left is CONSTANTLY doing this. While don’t people see it for what it is and call them on it?

Play the first few seconds of the video clip (what Carlson actually said) and the last few seconds (what Schultz says Carlson said).

rspock on December 13, 2011 at 11:03 AM

“With a capital C”

GuitarMark on December 13, 2011 at 1:10 PM

SHE ALSO BELIEVES IN THE “TOOTH FAIRY”,”SANTA CLAUS” AND THE “EASTER BUNNY”. The numbers don’t lie,and in the near future Obuummer will use the Christmas temp hiring as an excuse for the unemployment numbers to come down,just like they did for the census.

tomyj1 on December 13, 2011 at 7:52 PM

Average unemployment rate under Bush (Jan 2001 – December 2008): 5.3%

(And that included the aftermath of the Dot Com bust and the 9/11/2001 attacks)

Average unemployment rate under Obama (Jan 2009 – November 2011): 9.3%

ITguy on December 16, 2011 at 8:58 AM

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