by Republican and Democratic presidential hopefuls have had a face-off this Labor Day weekend, arguing about whether or not America is better off now than it was four years ago.
Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan started the debate, saying in Greenville, North Carolina that Obama “can’t tell you that you’re better off. Simply put, the Jimmy Carter years look like the good old days compared to where we are now.”
While the Obama campaign was relatively quiet in response on Sunday, they came out fighting yesterday. As Vice President Biden said in Detroit on Monday,
“Folks, let me make something clear — say it to the press. America is better off today than they left us when they left. . . . Let me just sum it up this way, folks. . . . Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive.”
Yesterday, while speaking in Toledo, Ohio, Obama explained why the country would have been far worse off if the Republican administration had been left in power. He said that he “bet on American workers” by providing $85 million in government loans to GM and Chrysler in 2009. He continued by saying,
“I believed in you. I bet on you. I’ll make that bet any day of the week. And because of that bet, three years later that bet is paying off for America. The American auto industry has come roaring back.”
Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg continued to discussion about whether or not America is better off today than four years ago. As she said, “Vice President Biden claimed that Americans are better off than they were four years ago, directly contradicting what President Obama and his campaign surrogates have said. The truth is that the middle class has been crushed in the Obama economy. Unemployment remains high, incomes have fallen, and gas prices have doubled.”
Undoutedly, the debate about whether or not we are better off will intensify in the coming days as the Democratic National Convention gets underway in Charlotte. The Republicans certainly plan to make this question a focal point of their counter arguments during the course of the convention coverage.
