Apparently not grasping the public's growing unease with Barack Obama's big government/big debt approach to the economy, MSNBC's Contessa Brewer on Thursday touted as admirable how the President and Democrats in Congress have "passed job extension benefits again and again. They passed a big health care reform bill that's gonna lower health care costs."
Highlighting the passage of the Democratic agenda, she continued, "They’ve had stimulus spending. They have sent more money to small community banks." Fretting about polls showing declining support for Obama, she demanded to know: "What else do people want the President and Congress to do?"
Ignoring the fact that some of Obama's programs haven't yielded tangible results, she added, "Americans are in a bad mood when it comes to the economy."
The host appeared shocked that according to a Quinnipiac poll, 42 percent surveyed say that they trust the Republicans to handle the economy versus Obama's 41 percent. Brewer then exclaimed, "My how things have changed."
The transcript of the July 22, 2010 segment is available here:
12:35:09 p.m. EDT
CONTESSA BREWER: Most Americans are in a bad mood when it comes to the economy. A new Quinnipiac University poll finds just 23% think the economy is getting better. Nearly a third think it's getting worse, and 44% say it's not changed. A new Citigroup survey finds nearly 2 out of 3 think we haven't even hit rock bottom. Let's go to Nate Silver, we just gave you a sneak peak there. He knows a thing or two about crunching numbers. When you're looking at these kind of numbers what does it say about the battle in store for especially Democrats because they control Congress and they control the White House?
NATE SILVER: Well, the economy has been the biggest story in politics for the last 2 years. Expectations are shifting more from blaming Bush to, hey, this is a Democrat's problem now if the economy isn't recovering -- they are going to be the ones in power and they are going to have a lot of issues in November.
BREWER: Okay, go to poll number three here. Looking at the Quinnipiac poll, who do you trust to handle the economy? This is a pretty shocking result: 41% saying President Obama, 42% saying Republicans. My, how things have changed.
SILVER: I think the deficit reduction talk has benefitted them. They haven't had too many substantive solutions. When you set expectations and say unemployment's only supposed to be 8% and now its almost 10% and could be getting worse instead of better, you're going to have problems. They probably need to have a bigger stimulus. People debate that.
BREWER: You heard Ben Bernanke say the other day that the government needs to do more stimulus spending in order to keep this recovery growing. Here is my question, you have a president come in and, though there were battles, Congress followed suit. They passed job extension benefits again and again. They passed a big health care reform bill that's gonna lower health care costs, it is predicted to, for a lot of people. They’ve had stimulus spending. They have sent more money to small community banks. What else do people want the President and Congress to do?
SILVER: Well, I don't know. People are probably short-term focused. The country has been in a state of distress for a long time. And 2008 was difficult year. Last year, a difficult year. I think people are fatigued by all the bad news, the oil spill doesn't help. People are angry; the party in power tends to get blame.
BREWER: Alright, Nate good to see you.
SILVER: Thank you.
