CBO: Stimulus added up to 3.3 million jobs

Politically, what this report does is force the GOP candidate to present a more nuanced argument. You guys have done it here, and the arguments are fair. But those aren't the kind of arguments that the GOP base has ever proven particularly good at accepting. And when Democrats try to fall back on "nuance," they are accused of either being condescending or simply manipulating cut-and-dry facts.

Obama now can say that the stimulus created as many as 3.3 million jobs.

And Romney will be on the defensive to explain marginal differences and the like, which Republicans don't like to do and voters (in either party) don't like to hear.

Victory: Obama.

 

and if medical experts came up with a cure for cervical cancer, obama would be the one trying to take credit for it.

 

You overestimate the GOP's target audience.

"Nuh-uh!" and "Oh, that's the report from CONGRESS, huh? Same old Congress" would both be acceptable retorts.

 

And how many of those jobs still exist?

There's more spin in this story than the bottle game at a teenage party.

The CBO report provided a broad range of the estimated number of full-time jobs created because of the stimulus — from a low of 500,000 to a high of 3.3 million jobs.

Previous estimates indicated that the stimulus funded more than 400,000 full-time jobs in the third quarter, but the CBO said in its report that the figure was not a[b] “comprehensive” look at the law’s impact[/b].

In other words, we just wanted to say something so we came up with this in about five minutes.

 

Uh... OK...

 

The number doesn't mean nearly as much as how people feel.

If they're worried about their own job, if their husband, brother or neighbor is out of work, then Obama taking credit for 3.3 million jobs is going to ring hollow.

The fact that some guy they don't know had a job for a few months working on a highway project won't change their reality.

 

What don't you agree with?

The person with the simplest argument on their side in a political debate typically wins.

 

Why does it even matter if those jobs have helped a larger part of our population making it through a catastrophic economic downturn?

The stimulus helped put food on the table or pay the rent for people who might not have been otherwise able to. The stimulus program literally saved lives, which is a fact that's completely lost on assholes wondering about whether they were "quality" job or sustainable "jobs" or whether the private sector would spend that money more efficiently. The fact is that the private sector job creators aren't doing any job creating.

 

..and he's got more political favo-- I mean stimulus to go out in 2013, given the opportunity.

 

So you cure a broken arm by breaking the other arm?

 

This would be the way it would play out for an extraordinarily small subset of people, those who would do all of the back-reading required and are not wedded to a candidate already. It wouldn't be more than 1 million people in all the voting populace.

And if Obama says "as many as 3.3 million jobs," he will be guilty of the gross exaggerations and swiping of others' credit of which he is often accused.