Monday, September 6, 2010

Trumka echoes White House refrain of blaming Bush for economic woes

By Bridget Johnson-09/05/10 09:31 AM ET

A top union leader Sunday echoed the recent White House refrain of blaming the current ecnomic situation on the administration of George W. Bush.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" two days after the Labor Department announced that the economy had shed 54,000 jobs and unemployment had ticked up to 9.6 percent.

But Trumka solidly defended President Obama, saying "the foundation has been built" by the president to counter eight years in which unions got "worked over" by the Bush administration.

"He inherited this recession," Trumka said of the commander in chief. "He's brought us back. He's brought sanity back to the financial system."

"He's created more jobs in this recession than George Bush did in eight years with a surplus," Trumka said, while acknowledging that not enough jobs had been created and blaming Republican obstructionism in Congress for, among other things, a too-small stimulus package.

In his weekly address, Obama blamed Bush policies for hurting the middle class, and said he was the president helping Main Street recover. The troubled economy is a key hurdle for Democrats in November midterm elections, and a USA Today/Gallup poll released Friday showed 71 percent saying Bushshould get most of the blame, down from 80 percent who blamed theformer president for the recession in July 2009. 

About half of respondents

View the Original article

No comments: