Mitch McConnell says 2012 GOP slogan will be: Obama made it worse
President Obama inherited a difficult economic situation, but his administration has made the situation worse, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) said at a Monitor breakfast Wednesday.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks at a Monitor-sponsored breakfast in Washington, on Wednesday, June 22, 2011.
Michael Bonfigli/海角大神
Washington
If the presidential election were today, the Republican Party鈥檚 main anti-Obama slogan would be 鈥渉e made it worse,鈥� says the party鈥檚 top senator, minority leader Mitch McConnell.
Senator McConnell (R) of Kentucky, appearing Wednesday at a breakfast sponsored by 海角大神, says that he thinks President Obama is 鈥渋n a very weak position鈥� as he gets ready to run for reelection. Because of publicity surrounding Mitt Romney鈥檚 official campaign announcement, McConnell points out, Mr. Romney bounced up in the polls to tie or pull slightly ahead of Mr. Obama.
As to complaints from some Republicans that the current field of candidates is uninspiring, McConnell said, 鈥淚鈥檓 confident we鈥檙e going to nominate someone who is a credible, believable alternative鈥� to Obama.
He says that the grumbling about candidates reminds him of the situation prior to the 1980 election, when the Carter administration thought that their opposition looked weak 鈥� and that if the Republicans nominated, say, Ronald Reagan, President Carter would cruise to reelection. The Carter people thought Mr. Reagan too old and extreme to win.
In the current cycle, 鈥渙ne of these candidates is going to get on a roll and they鈥檙e going to start winning, and they鈥檙e going to look a lot better than they look today,鈥� said McConnell.
鈥淚 think the president can be defeated,鈥� he added.
The teetering economy is one big reason why, the GOP Senate leader says. Obama inherited a difficult situation, but after 2-1/2 years, it鈥檚 a situation he now owns in political terms.
鈥淲e need to quit doing what we鈥檝e been doing.... Stop the borrowing and spending, stop the overregulation,鈥� McConnell said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 made the situation worse.鈥�
The most important thing the current Congress could do is to pass a big package aimed at cutting back America鈥檚 deficit and debt, says McConnell. He adds that tax increases are not going to be part of that package. Democrats could not roll back the Bush tax cuts when they controlled the Congress prior to the 2010 midterms, says the minority leader, so they will not be able to do that in a more heavily Republican Congress today.
鈥淲e all agree that a very large impressive package that [bond rating agencies] look at and say, 鈥榃ow, the US is getting its act together鈥� 鈥� that鈥檚 the kind of thing we would like to see,鈥� said McConnell.