Day two of the “Broken Promises Tour,” and it’s clear Barbara Boxer is feeling the heat from voters to explain why she should be re-elected for a fourth term. That’s a tall order, though, given her record of few accomplishments – especially on the jobs front.
Back when Barbara Boxer was championing the economic stimulus plan, she told us the Golden State should expect the stimulus plan to yield 400,000 jobs for our fellow Californians and that unemployment would stay at or below 8 percent. But in fact, our state’s employment picture has actually worsened in the last 16 months – proving the plan has been an abject failure.
Of course, Barbara Boxer wants to place to blame for that failure on anyone but herself. Her excuse yesterday?
Barbara Boxer: “This bad economy didn’t happen overnight. The seeds of it were planted year after year after year … wrong priorities year after year after year.” (Kevin Yamamura, “Boxer kicks off two-day tour talking about jobs, Fiorina,” Sacramento Bee, 7/6/10)
Her excuse today?
“Boxer blamed the nation’s economic problems on ‘two wars [put] on a credit card,’ ‘mortgage gambling,’ and the Wall Street ‘debacle.’” (Mike Hornick, “U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer campaigns in Monterey,” The Californian, 7/7/10)
But regardless of her excuse of the day, Barbara Boxer must be held accountable for her failure to deliver on her promises. She even brought the line of questioning on herself, saying at her first event yesterday, “You tell me what you need; you prove it to me; we work together; we get it done.”
Well, Barbara, we’ll tell you what we need: jobs. The people of California need lasting private-sector jobs, not just the short-term government work programs you keep championing. Four hundred thousand more Californians are out of work today than when the stimulus program passed. More than 650,000 people nationally left the labor force in just one month. Businesses are unwilling to expand and hire our fellow Americans because of the regulatory policies coming out of Washington that have produced more uncertainty and fewer jobs. How much more proof do you need that your policies have devastated our nation’s economy?