Obama Says “I Underestimated Magnitude of Recession” But a New Video Shows He Was Warned

Failed President Barack Obama told his twitter town hall audience yesterday that he underestimated the magnitude of the recession.
TPM reported:

President Obama openly acknowledged underestimating the length and magnitude of the worst recession since the Great Depression in a response to a question during his Twitter town hall.

Always a tough question to answer, Obama was asked what mistakes he made in handling the economic crisis and what he would have done differently looking back on his first months in office.

Obama freely admitted that he would have tried to do a better job explaining “to the American people it was going to take a while to get out of this.”

“Even I didn’t realize the magnitude — because most economists didn’t realize the magnitude — of the recession until” it was many months into his presidency, Obama said Wednesday.

But that is not true…
Obama was warned about the magnitude of the recession before he moved into the White House.
Former White House Economic Adviser Christine Romer told an audience recently that she warned him about the depth of the recession before he took office in 2009.
Verum Serum posted the video:

Obama was warned – He just took the wrong action.

#1 July 7, 2011 at 8:30 am
Betsy Ross commented:

So which is it, Barry? Are you the smartest person on the planet and knows all?
Or are you so stupid that you will find any scapegoat to explain away your utter failure?

I choose the second option.

Anybody but Obama 2012
#2 July 7, 2011 at 8:32 am
#1AMERICAN commented:

odumbass took the direction he wanted…the destruction of AMERICA and the boosting of all the mooslums to invade our great country…time to get rid of the kenyan fraud
#3 July 7, 2011 at 8:33 am
texabama commented:

Our President stating an untruth…say it ain’t so!
#4 July 7, 2011 at 8:36 am
RKflorida commented:

I can’t believe our president lied. /sarc off
#5 July 7, 2011 at 8:38 am
SeniorD commented:

Don’t you love it when our megalomaniac Puppet President has the ‘audacity of hope’ in making the claim “Even I didn’t realize the magnitude …” ? Almost as if our clueless Chinese Fire Drill of a President still sits on Mt. Olympus looking down with pity at the poor people.

Every non-Keynesian economist were as small voices in the desert to this clown.
#6 July 7, 2011 at 8:39 am
BubbaHotep commented:

So much for smart power, and damned be the truth.

http://www.economist.com/node/12685546
Mr Obama’s policies may not be any more successful at combating the financial crisis and recession than those of George Bush. But it does seem safe to say that economics will play a bigger part in the formation of those policies. Three of the first four members of the team to be named are well-regarded PhD-holding economists and the fourth, Tim Geithner, the new treasury secretary, is a respected central banker (he heads the Federal Reserve Bank of New York). Only one of the four people they will replace shares a comparable background (see chart).
#7 July 7, 2011 at 8:41 am
Militant Conservative commented:

“Never let a good crisis go to waste”.

President is smart, a smart socialist bent on

destroying America as founded.

Y’all keep underestimating your opponent.

Powder is dry
#8 July 7, 2011 at 8:48 am
Scott M commented:

So we have this woman’s word that she told him? That doesn’t fly anymore. She needs to be able to back that up with documents, audio, or video in order for it to have any legs.
#9 July 7, 2011 at 8:57 am
olm commented:

Obama’s goal is destroying things to “fundamentally change America”. He doesn’t give a crap now or then how big the recession is or was, he is hardwired to destroy capitalism.
Did he lie? Probably, he lies about everything and wouldn’t know the truth because he doesn’t care. It is not a part of who he is. He has told us what he is about and what he is doing. The American people just hear the lies.
During Weinergate he signed an EO aimed at creating another commission (or whatever the actual name) of 25 people (the usual leftists) to go after sustainable crap which is all about a UN Agenda 21 that was created in 1992. I did some reading on it yesterday. The posters here are much smarter than I. Is this a valid thing? Sounds like a movie conspiracy theory but what is available on the internet sure makes it sound real.
#10 July 7, 2011 at 9:01 am
BubbaHotep commented:

Read the article closely and in it’s entirety. The chosen team has accolades inconsistent with his world view, so, perhaps he suffers from selective memory.
http://www.economist.com/node/12685546
The team’s other striking feature is its centrism. Mr Summers is on the conservative wing of Democratic economists. As Mr Clinton’s treasury secretary he backed the law that in 1999 tore down barriers between commercial and investment banks and still backs it despite recent criticism. Christina Romer, an economic historian from Berkeley, has just published a paper with her husband David showing how raising taxes retards growth. Jason Furman, likely to be named as an aide to Mr Summers, outraged unions for his 2005 article, “Wal-Mart: A Progressive Success Story”. One hedge-fund manager who, before the election, was terrified Mr Obama would usher in “confiscatory” tax policies breathed a sigh of relief. “No Robert Reichs,” he said, a reference to the leftish adviser who was Mr Clinton’s labour secretary. “There’s no radicals in the whole cabinet that anyone can find.”
#11 July 7, 2011 at 9:06 am
wanumba commented:

How about replaying that video of Obama complaining about how the Constitution is an impediment to redistribution/reparations?

He’s doing what he’s long on record saying he wanted to do, and that’s take the citizens’ wealth from them and give it to politically favored groups. National grand theft is guaranteed to have a very very negative effect on the economy and measurably depress the average quality of the existing standard of living; undermining the Constitutional protections for citizens is guaranteed to degrade our freedoms and personal security.

All there, in plain view, never hidden. All the media has done is tell us we are not seeing and hearing what we are seeing and hearing.
#12 July 7, 2011 at 9:20 am
Alvin commented:

Listening to Romer certainly shows that regargless of what this president believes, he is surrounded and advised by partisan leftists, not professional economists. They focus primarily on societal change before sound government and consent of the governed.
#13 July 7, 2011 at 9:23 am
chicago commented:

another day another lie from Obama’s mouth. in his affirmative action mind, any excuse would do! He’s having a hard time reconciling everything since, apparently, it’s hard to practice affirmative action in the office of the presidency since you’re expected to make your own decisions and stick your own neck out.

it’s time to get this affirmative action president out of the white house and put him on a permanent golf outing.
#14 July 7, 2011 at 9:24 am
vamoose commented:

The following quote is telling:

‘Obama freely admitted that he would have tried to do a better job explaining “to the American people it was going to take a while to get out of this.”’

Obama’s first instinct is NOT to do actually work toward solving the problem, but to launch a PR campaign to buy the patience of the American people.

From day 1 in the Obama administration he knew jobs and the economy was the biggest challenge facing his administration, regardless of how precisely he knew the economic condition of the country. Yet it is the one issue that he has routinely ignored. He went to Iowa last week, ostensibly to talk about jobs. However, Iowa’s 6% unemployment rate is well below the 9.1% national rate. Wouldn’t going to South Carolina or Michigan make more sense? Why Iowa? Oh yes, it’s a battleground state in 2012. Obama is only interested in one thing: getting re-elected.

Warning to the Republican leadership: do not let Obama shift ownership of this economy to you!
#15 July 7, 2011 at 9:25 am
Tati commented:

This is what you get when you elect a community organizer (professional agitator) as president – what a buffoon (my apologies to all the buffoons out there).
#16 July 7, 2011 at 9:42 am
StrangernFiction commented:

Pure Evil!
#17 July 7, 2011 at 9:46 am
Militant Conservative commented:

Scott M #8, are you serious or a Soro’s puppet?
#18 July 7, 2011 at 9:51 am
saveus commented:

more baloney from obummer
joe wilson ws right
he lies
#19 July 7, 2011 at 9:52 am
Militant Conservative commented:

#9 yes Agenda 21 is frighteningly real.

Long term goal of the socialists, one word gubmt.

Powder is dry
#20 July 7, 2011 at 9:57 am
kato commented:

If we weren’t in a recession, Blowhard’s policies could have put us in one. Left-wingers are economic illiterates, and Blowhard was no better suited to assess the economy than my garbageman. He came in with a redistributionist agenda, and has effectively expropriated trillions of dollars and handed it over to special interests and parasites.

Any wonder why 90 percent of blacks strongly support him?
#21 July 7, 2011 at 10:09 am
Brian Bollmann commented:

Mr. Obama, as a sitting Senator, what information was NOT available to you the delineated the depth of the Recession?

Or, was it that you were to busy campaigning.
#22 July 7, 2011 at 10:13 am
olm commented:

#19, considering this has been signed on to by both Democrats and Republicans how can we be sure who is on board and who isn’t?
Second question, since this “sustainability” trojan horse is in most communities (the one in my local community, fairly rural, built a planned mixed use development that fits perfect with Agenda 21) do the local people in charge of these projects know they are ushering in a communist utopia or are they useful idiots of the elites?
Does this second question even make sense?
#23 July 7, 2011 at 10:17 am
joscefi commented:

“Even I didn’t realize the magnitude…”

Even I?

How could mere facts penetrate such an obtuse wall of unsubstantiated vanity?

What a dick!
#24 July 7, 2011 at 10:21 am
Valerie commented:

Jim,

It sounds to me like the advice this woman was giving at the time was to pass an even bigger stimulus package. They just didn’t think that they could get it through Congress.

Which places BO in the position of, in some people’s view, not doing quite enough.

Right now, it is going to sound, at worst, like a good-faith experiment, which still leaves the absolutely valid point that it was the wrong thing to do.

Why? Because when the government spends money, it takes too long to directly affect current economic conditions, and it sucks resources out of the rest of the economy, resources that might have been recycled and amplified multiple times before the money the government takes can even get spent the first time. Further, people can look at the action a government is taking, and make predictions.

Remember, with the spending increases there has also been talk of tax increases. So….

Daddy reads the paper, and notices that he is a target. He doesn’t have to call an accountant to predict that, if the tax cuts are not extended, his family income will take a hit, and he knows off the top of his head how much that will be. He says “Mom, about that kitchen remodel…” and she says “We probably ought to kick that off until at least next year, unless I can find a really good price. The kids’ college accounts are still recovering, the retirement account is only ok, and I’d rather pay more for the kitchen later, when I know I can afford it.”

…And that’s what happened to our construction industry after the Stimulus.
#25 July 7, 2011 at 10:26 am
The Underground Conservative commented:

“…our president”

He may be THE president, but he is not MY president.
#26 July 7, 2011 at 10:26 am
Low Sloped Forehead commented:

But but but…..the recession is over, it ended June 2009. It says so right here….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/20/the-recession-is-over-say_n_731450.html

Besides, this is the summer of recovery.

What? oh that was last year….never mind.
#27 July 7, 2011 at 10:39 am
Kissmygrits commented:

Zero didn’t see that shovel ready jobs weren’t all that shovel ready, either. He see the teleprompter just fine, though.
#28 July 7, 2011 at 10:47 am
Sally commented:

The thought of this flake having had such a major role in making decisions for us reminds me just
how screwed we are.

The lunatics are, indeed, running the asylum.
#30 July 7, 2011 at 11:09 am
Scott M commented:

Scott M #8, are you serious or a Soro’s puppet?

Please spare me your faux outrage. I’m solidly against 99.99 of what this administration does. That doesn’t change the fact that trying to make a mountain out of molehill without any backup won’t change one iota of the voting citizen’s mind. That’s the important issue here, not red meat. We can waste time on things that won’t add to the removal of this inept administration, or we can concentrate on stories that are verifiable beyond he-said/she-said. Use your brain.
#31 July 7, 2011 at 11:13 am
Wayne commented:

#10 Bubbahotep, what the hell are you smoking?! With people like you voting it’s no wonder this country is going down the tubes. Thanks a lot.
#32 July 7, 2011 at 11:20 am
Ella commented:

From practically day one in office, his drumbeat has been to bash Bush…and by doing so, bellowing far and wide with the meme, “worst economy since the Depression” and similar statements. Now he underestimated the magnitude? Filthy liar. Once again, he tries to have it both way. And once again, he shows himself to be the incompetent, deceitful, opportunistic, colossal liar he is.
#33 July 7, 2011 at 11:21 am
Dunce commented:

Scot m has a point. You must not believe anything or anyone that is or was associated voluntarily with this administration.
#34 July 7, 2011 at 11:23 am
SouthofReality commented:

Bambi is a meglomanical moron.
And Romer looks like a clueless moron.

What a dream team.
#35 July 7, 2011 at 11:34 am
gus commented:

Obama is not an honest person. HE is the same filth as those he has hung around with.

Half of America approves of this cokksucker, because he promises them YOUR money.
#36 July 7, 2011 at 11:41 am
Finncrisp commented:

The only thing Barry underestimated is the low tolerance of most Americans to his incompetance. His desire to create a socialist paradise remains unchecked. His distain for America in general is unprecedented in a sitting President.
#37 July 7, 2011 at 12:10 pm
bg commented:

++

pardon if a repeat:

ht Mike H.

‘No drama’ Obama losing his cool

[Something unexpected happened along the president’s breezy cruise
to re-election. “No drama” Obama is suddenly looking about as calm as
Jerry Lewis in a French film, about as brave as Ted Kennedy after an
evening drive through Chappaquiddick. Witness Team Obama’s recent
panicky behavior.]

and please note: written by President Obama’s cousin??

==
#38 July 7, 2011 at 12:49 pm
SeniorD commented:

To #9 and #19

This Regime has gone too far:

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/7958-obama-signs-agenda-21-related-executive-order

What’s that about keeping our powder dry?
#39 July 7, 2011 at 1:15 pm
olm commented:

Right, the Executive order signed during weinergate is all about UN Agenda 21. This is nuts and very close to implementation.
The more knowledge on this the better. I can’t figure out if Obama is just going to get pushed out and lose in 2012 or if he will desparately do whatever it takes to stay in power. It certainly appears that the utopia of which he dreams is very close but will all be on hold if he loses a 2nd term.
#40 July 7, 2011 at 1:19 pm
jorgen commented:

he underestimated the magnitude of the recession.

Well, he used the experience gathered from his affirmative action career (nil) and as community organizer (nil). This combined with him being an agitator rather than a politician naturally prevented him from understanding the situation or indeed understand what was required from a POTUS.
#41 July 7, 2011 at 1:23 pm
bg commented:

++

Obama, IslaMarxism & The Green Movement

==
#42 July 7, 2011 at 1:34 pm
Molon Labe commented:

#8

Here we see an example of the Casey Anthony jury in action.

When an Obama advisor makes such a statement that must be examined carefully in conjunction with Obama’s subsequent actions all we get is D’oh.

Right on guy. You voted for Obama in 2008, hows it working out for you?
#43 July 7, 2011 at 1:34 pm
bg commented:

++

Valerie #24

nicely put, hope Jim (or at least someone aside from me) reads it..

==
#44 July 7, 2011 at 1:47 pm
BubbaHotep commented:

#31 Wayne: You apparently did not read (comprehend) the article. The MSM passed off this class of PhD clowns on November 27, 2008 as if they were centrists and the saviours of all the so-called ill’s brought on by the Bush administration. Lo and behold, they are who and what we thought they were.
To quote Dick Armey: Too many classes and not enough education.
#45 July 7, 2011 at 2:24 pm
CommieJuice commented:

“0bama was warned – He just took the wrong action.”

The American people were also warned before the 2008 election. The end is nigh if they repeat that massive mistake. That’s who this loser is. He is a lair, the biggest spender in the history of the world, and greatest thief of liberty and wealth in the history of America More American people live in terror of the government and the uncertainty that a loser, liar and thief that lame duck 0bama brings than ever before.

We can bicker, gossip, spread lies or the truth, but the endgame for US has to be the same… A new president has to be elected or else we lose, checkmate, game over. First the supreme court will be 5-4 liberals, maybe 6-3 depending on who stays or goes. The generational thief of wealth, liberty and constitutional rights will be 10 fold over the last 2 1/2 years. It will be so great that we will NEVER recover, FDR will look like an amateur compared to this loser. This is doom and gloom. That air that use to be free will cost you a premium. Coming soon to a city near you, packs of mobs robbing the stores and beating any pale person who isn’t armed. These are the times we always hear about. It’s up to us to decide if we are going to let 20% of the voting population, 95% of the 12.5% ruling class, a wave of undocumented Dimocrats and the propagandist in the lame stream media rule us or are we going to reverse what these Marxist bastards are doing, vote the right way, do the right thing by saving and fixing this horrendous mess! 2012 is the final show down, if we give up power to them, there is no going back. God bless us!
#46 July 7, 2011 at 2:27 pm
FurryGuyJeans commented:

Obama was warned – He just took the wrong action.

That was a feature of Barry’s economic policies, not a bug. He was given a crisis he sure wasn’t going to waste by not subjugating America into becoming a Marxist Paradise.
#47 July 7, 2011 at 3:49 pm
obfuscatenot commented:

Here’s a big ole Joe Wilson…….”YOU LIE!”

Nearly 100% of humans are made mostly water, Barrack Hussain Obama is mostly lies.
#48 July 7, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Wayne commented:

#44 BabbaHotep, understood, sorry.
#49 July 7, 2011 at 5:08 pm
Josh commented:

Obama listens to the CFR and takes his marching orders from those folks.

“We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nation will accept the New World Order.”
– David Rockefeller speaking at a UN Business Conference, Sept. 14, 1994
#50 July 7, 2011 at 8:26 pm
BubbaHotep commented:

#48 Wayne. No harm. No foul.
#51 July 7, 2011 at 10:13 pm
Scott M commented:

When an Obama advisor makes such a statement that must be examined carefully in conjunction with Obama’s subsequent actions all we get is D’oh.

Right on guy. You voted for Obama in 2008, hows it working out for you?

Please explain how anything I said in this thread indicates how I voted in 2008 (you’re wrong, btw). Go back and re-read it. Maybe even re-read through the thread a bit. It doesn’t matter what this woman says. Given the climate and the way scandals can break or be spun, if you don’t have anything to back up what you say, it’s just red meat. As I said later in the thread, this little kerfuffle, sans proof, isn’t worth any effort from anyone concentrating on trying to remove this amateur hour presidency.

You want get all lathered up about something with zero legs? Fine. I’d rather concentrate on things that will actually pull the administration down like Gunwalker.
#52 July 7, 2011 at 10:39 pm
olm commented:

#49 That’s what this is all about. And gunrunner and the attempted stay of today’s execution.
#55 July 8, 2011 at 12:26 pm
bg commented:

++

Josh #49

please scroll up/down, click on links
/connecting links as you go, thanks..

[just in case, starting point is post #8]

==