Denialism vs. Reality

UPDATE BELOW


In the blindly partisan world of extreme rightwingers, President Obama has done nothing right. As proof, they offer up only the negatives and never, never, never do they consider the positives that exist in all presidencies.  This skewed view of Mr. Obama's presidency now has them yawping like deranged hyenas over the leads Mr. Obama is, so far, enjoying in the polls, citing all the unfinished work the president faces as "failures."  They've even gone so far as to suggest that polling firms like Gallup, and others, are deliberately slanted in Mr. Obama's favor--an incredibly dumb suggestion, since these polling companies depend on their accuracy to stay in business.  Why would they all damage their reputations?  But don't go looking for logic where the fringies live.

Some of these extremists need a "reality bitch slap."    In the last 3 1/2 years, Mr. Obama's presidency has been mixed with good and bad, but you'll not drag any of the good out of the yawpers.

Below are some to consider.  These are facts that the wingers refuse to acknowledge, because they don't fit the narrative they've conjured up in their minds of a losing, failing, Marxist, Socialist, Commie, Kenyan Hawaiian Devil Baby.  And they truly believe that Mr. Obama is losing, or will lose, to Mr. Romney; that the polling firms that show leads in critical swing states are deliberately falsifying numbers; and that only their polling tells the truth.

When folks believe only what fits their prejudices, and deliberately stay blind to what IS instead of what they want it to be, they generally need some reality bitch slapping to wake them up:


Bloomberg

Factory Job Gains Under Obama Best Since Clinton: BGOV Barometer

In an election focused on jobs, President Barack Obama can boast of crossing one milestone: the longest stretch of employment gains in manufacturing in almost two decades.

The BGOV Barometer shows U.S. factory positions have grown since early 2010, arresting a slide that began toward the end of the 1990s. It’s the best showing since the era of Bill Clinton, the only president in the last 30 years to leave office with more factory jobs than when he began.

“The gain in manufacturing jobs is certainly helpful, it is one way to show we’re moving forward,” said Terry Madonna, a political science professor and director of the Franklin & Marshall College poll in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “President Obama has to create a psychology all over the country that things are getting better. This is a piece explaining that idea.”

NBC News:

New U.S. single-family home sales eased in August but held near two-year highs and prices vaulted to their highest level in more than five years, adding to signs of a broadening housing market recovery.

PBS NEWSHOUR

The Case-Shiller index is out this morning, and housing prices continued to rise last month. Except perhaps for those shopping for homes, this is unambiguously good news. The more housing wealth, the greater the "wealth effect": the propensity to spend. The greater the spending, the less unemployment. The wheel then turns. Maybe we're heading for a Titanic iceberg, as some of my friends predict. Maybe the fiscal cliff bodes ill. But for those who think we can hang in there and muddle through, good news.


JOB GROWTH:

The Wall Street Journal:

Middle East Officials Praise Obama Speech

"...Middle Eastern officials said they valued Mr. Obama's call for tolerance.

"It was a very good opening speech," said Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati. "I agreed with it 99%, particularly his point that we need to expect and have openness, before it is too late."

Mr. Obama in his address called on new rulers around the world to govern fairly and openly, to permit dissent but discourage violence.

One Arab diplomat who was not authorized to speak publicly to the press, said: "The key message was that we need to fight for tolerance and accept people as they are. This was very important. We cannot be dragged down into violence by what is after all a very small minority."

The Wall Street Journal:

Putin on U.S. Vote: Obama 'Genuine,'Romney 'Mistaken'

MOSCOW—Russian President Vladimir Putin said the re-election of President Barack Obama could improve relations with the U.S., but that he was also prepared to work with Mitt Romney, calling the Republican candidate's tough stance on Russia "pre-election rhetoric."

In contrast to what had been viewed as a chilly attitude toward Mr. Obama, Mr. Putin called his U.S. counterpart "a genuine person" who "really wants to change much for the better."

Fellow blogger Infidel753 puts it this way:

"This is a high-stakes election. The stakes are theocracy vs. secularism, denialism vs. reality on global warming, Randian laissez-faire and an unregulated financial parasite class vs. a rational mixed economy, mythology vs. science in public schools, insurance-company death panels vs. a major step toward universal coverage, Bible-based bigotry vs. marriage equality, relentless attacks on abortion and even birth control vs. individual choice, cave-man foreign policy vs. informed diplomacy. And don't forget Supreme Court appointments."

UPDATE:

A tiny, routine revision in some jobs data could have a big political payoff for President Obama.




The Labor Department on Thursday morning quietly released a new benchmark for payroll employment in the U.S. It turns out that with the revision, there has been net job growth -- not much, but more than nothing -- during Obama's first term.



According to the revision, total non-farm payrolls stood at 133.686 million jobs in August, up from 133.561 million in January 2009, when Obama's first term began. Before the revision, payrolls were at 133.300 million in August.



In other words, 125,000 jobs have been created, in total, during Obama's first term, compared with a prior estimate of a loss of 261,000.



This is obviously a very small difference, but it takes away a weapon that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for president, has used repeatedly to hit Obama: the claim that there has been a net job loss since he took office.



That claim was arguably unfair in any event, given the state of the economy when Obama took on the worst job in America: The economy was shedding about 750,000 jobs per month just before and after his inauguration. With the new benchmark revisions, it added about 194,000 jobs per month in the year up to March 2012, according to Wharton economics professor Justin Wolfers.


H/T HUFFPOST