A perplexed Ed Schultz on Friday couldn't fathom why Americans have failed to "love Obama." The MSNBC anchor highlighted a new poll showing that the President only has a 45 percent approval rating. Schultz marveled, "I just cannot believe this number. Seriously."
The confused host sputtered, "It amazes me that people don't love Obama...It just amazes me he can't get above 50 percent when it comes to a favorable view of the economy." [MP3 audio here [1].] Schultz also took time to trash Ronald Reagan, the man who won 49 states in his 1984 reelection bid.
Schultz tried to convince his viewers that the economy is in fantastic shape. Perhaps it's headlines such as this one from the liberal New York Times [2] that are stopping Americans from truly "loving" Obama: "Many Rival Nations Surge Past the U.S. in Adding New Jobs."
Times writer Nelson Schwartz wrote in June:
[C]ontrary to the widespread view that the United States is an island of relative prosperity in a global sea of economic torpor, employment in several other nations has bounced back more quickly, according to a new analysis by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
He added:
But overall employment in the United States remained 2.1 percent below where it was at the end of 2007, according to the statistics bureau. By comparison, over the same period, between December 2007 and March 2013, the number of jobs was up 8.1 percent in Australia; Germany, the biggest economy in the troubled euro zone, has managed a 5.8 percent gain in employment.
"The United States is way below where it should be," said Lawrence F. Katz, a professor of economics at Harvard. "We had a massive downturn and a tepid recovery."
Schultz went on to trash Reagan, sneering, "It was Ronald Reagan who said we've got to deregulate Wall Street. It was Ronald Reagan back in the '60s who campaigned hard against Medicare."
A partial transcript of the September 13 segment is below:
5:01
ED SCHULTZ: I want to start with a number and a poll tonight and I want to talk about the economy, because I just cannot believe this number. Seriously. President Obama's handling of the economy. Only 45 percent of the American people think he's doing a good job on the economy and 52 percent disapprove? You mean to tell me we've had 41 months of private-sector job growth? We've got a stock market that is absolutely going through the roof? We've got record profits? People's 401k's are in the market and that's the best people think? You know what that is? That is a lot of negative campaigning in the media. That is the Republican, conservative effect on how we think as a country.
Here's the man, the Republicans always love to quote. [Picture of Ronald Reagan appears onscreen.] Here is the man they genuflect to. Here is the man they point to for direction, Mr. Trickle-Down Economics, Ronald Reagan. Brought the philosophy if the wealthy people don't pay much in taxes, our job market is going to go nuts. It was Ronald Reagan who said we've got to deregulate Wall Street. It was Ronald Reagan back in the '60s who campaigned hard against Medicare and how many lives has Medicare saved and the quality of life for people in their later years has been just enhanced dramatically? Reagan was against all of that.
And we have put up with a set of basics dealing with Reagan -- Reagan's economic philosophy for the past 35 years. So where are we right now? It amazes me that people don't love Obama. It amazes me that the conservatives who are seeing the stock market go through the roof in dealing with a President who has pretty much been hands-off on Wall Street, it just amazes me he can't get above 50 percent when it comes to a favorable view of the economy. Well, you see, Reaganomics has hammered the working folk of America.