Hillary Clinton ally Sidney Blumenthal slammed President Barack Obama's economic strategy, which he called a failure, and criticized both Obamacare and the stimulus, The Washington Free Beacon reports.
"The economy story has three acts: Bush's recession, followed by Obama's attempted recovery, followed by Obama's failed recovery," Blumenthal wrote to Clinton in Sept. 2010, in an email hosted by WikiLeaks. "Blaming Bush has a fading political half-life. In September, we've concluded ‘Recovery Summer,' which curdled into Slowdown Summer."
"Obama put his brand on "Recovery Summer" and now he owns Slowdown Summer—that's his brand for the midterms," he continued. "The slowdown is on Obama's watch; it's charged to his credit card."
"Obama's most devoted pundit apologists echo talking points that he's achieved health care, the stimulus and financial reform," Blumenthal added. "Unfortunately, the stimulus was inadequate, financial reform is perceived as abstract, and health care has not gained broad public acceptance with its main benefits yet to be delivered. We are now at the place in the story that is about a false dawn and a false messiah."
Clinton hailed Obama's efforts to improve the economy, saying at the Democratic National Convention that he and Vice President Joe Biden don't "get the credit they deserve for saving us from the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes," according to Politifact.
"The political story is that the undeserving rich and the undeserving poor (illegal immigrants) have been rewarded while the deserving, hardworking middle class has paid the price," Blumenthal wrote. "If the Democratic Party is the party of government and government is owned by Wall Street, the Democratic Party ipso facto has become the party of Wall Street."
"Bush was already repudiated when Obama was elected," he continued. "The effort to place responsibility for the economic crisis on the GOP therefore has to be renewed and remade, beyond Bush. The story has to be recast, using a new image."
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