This monstrous individual–to call him a doctor is no longer fitting–got what he deserved.

But the Gosnell ordeal shouldn’t slip quietly from the national conscience. On the contrary, it should be a wakeup call.

There’s no need to recount his brutality; by now, we know the facts. And the fact that authorities ignored or overlooked his practice (which had a license!) for almost two decades raises the question: How many other Gosnells are out there?

If he slipped through the cracks for so long, are there others committing the same brutal acts, treating patients like animals and making millions while doing so? For whatever reason, there is either a flaw in the system or a dangerous reluctance among authorities to regulate abortion.  Is it a blind spot? Is it a desire to look the other way?  Regardless, now we know something must be done so this never happens again.

Last week, Republicans in the U.S. Senate stepped up to do what they could.  Senator Mike Lee of Utah introduced a resolution that states, “Congress and States should gather information about and correct abusive, unsanitary, and illegal abortion practices and the interstate referral of women and girls to facilities engaged in dangerous or illegal second- and third-trimester procedures.”

Now is the time to step up and act. There will likely be abortion advocates who denounce these leaders. These are the voices that reject any talk of regulating abortion, but they have no ground to stand on here. There is no defending Kermit Gosnell or the broken system that enabled him.

Moreover, there is no excusing those in the media that failed to cover this trial. That, too, is part of the problem. There seems to be an unwillingness to cover a story that could bring into question whether the nation’s abortion laws are strong enough and fully enforced. That’s dangerous: if the public is unaware of the Kermit Gosnells, how can we prevent these appalling crimes?

Hearing about the horrors of the Gosnell abortion clinic is enough to make anyone want to turn away, but this is a story that must be told. That’s the only way we can work together to ensure there are no other Gosnells–and that there never will be.

In Washington, D.C., in state capitals, in big cities and small towns, Tax Day Tea Party rallies are sounding a refrain that we must keep shouting: “Taxed Enough Already.”

That cry began four years ago when everyday Americans finally had enough with Washington liberals’ tax-and-spend ways and wanted to do something about it. They got attention and gained a following.

Since then, they’ve helped refocus American politics on the principles that matter: a constitutionally limited government, states’ tenth amendment rights, and less government spending.

In 2010, commonsense conservatives were swept into Congress on a wave of grassroots momentum. Two years later, freedom-minded Americans ensured Republicans kept their majority in the House of Representatives.

Since then, these Republican representatives have heard and heeded the call for responsible spending. They’ve passed balanced budgets and voted to lower taxes. But Democrats in the Senate and the Spender-in-Chief won’t even propose a budget that balances. Clearly, they’re not losing sleep over the $16.7 billion national debt.

But across America, Republican governors are doing the work the president won’t. They’re cutting taxes, eliminating waste, reining in government, and rooting out corruption.  Many of them took office in 2009 and 2010. We have the Tea Party to thank for that.

Four years ago, we were “Taxed Enough Already.” Today, we’re taxed even more. If President Obama had our way, taxes would continue to rise. This is why tax day rallies matter. This is why advocates of limited government matter. If we don’t speak up, nothing stands in the way of government reaching further into our pockets.

Tax dollars are our dollars. So the people we elect to represent us should be good stewards of our money. It should be spent wisely and efficiently, not wastefully.

As conservatives, we know that if government isn’t limited, opportunity will be. The more government taxes, the more it spends, and the more it spends, the more it grows. A large, bloated, intrusive government stands in the way of citizens charting their own course and making their own decisions. It stifles job creation and shrinks you paycheck.

That’s why we want legislators to respect the Constitution. Individuals make better decisions than the bureaucrat. Washington liberals need a reintroduction to the Tenth Amendment, an amendment drafted to ensure that powers not given to the federal government are reserved for the states and the people–because government of the people, by the people, and for the people should be kept closest to the people.

So to all the people standing up today, rallying for liberty, I applaud you.  Your voice matters, and America needs you to keep speaking out.

Consider two events from last week. First, in North Dakota the governor signed into law bills that would ban abortions when a fetal heartbeat is present and when the procedure is sought solely because of the baby’s genetics. The media, including most major outlets, went into a frenzy to stir up controversy, often casting pro-life conservatives in a negative light.

Then later in the week in Florida, lawmakers held a hearing about a bill to protect the lives of babies born during an attempted abortion procedure. The bill requires the abortionist to provide medical care to the newborn. It might seem obvious that a newborn should be cared for—but not to Planned Parenthood.

They sent a lobbyist to the Florida legislature to testify in opposition to the bill. Here are some excerpts between the legislators and the lobbyist, Alisa LaPolt Snow, published earlier in the Weekly Standard. They pretty much speak for themselves.

Rep. Jim Boyd: “If a baby is born on a table as a result of a botched abortion, what would Planned Parenthood want to have happen to that child that is struggling for life?”

Snow: “We [Planned Parenthood] believe that any decision that’s made should be left up to the woman, her family, and the physician.”

***

Rep. Daniel Davis: “What happens in a situation where a baby is alive, breathing on a table, moving? What do your physicians do at that point?”

Snow: “I do not have that information. I am not a physician. I am not an abortion provider. So I do not have that information.”

***

Rep. Jose Oliva: “You stated that a baby born alive on a table as a result of a botched abortion that that decision should be left to the doctor and the family. Is that what you’re saying?”

Snow: “That decision should be between the patient and the health care provider.”

Oliva: “I think that at that point the patient would be the child struggling on the table, wouldn’t you agree?”

Snow: “That’s a very good question. I really don’t know how to answer that. I would be glad to have some more conversations with you about this.”

You can watch the shocking exchange here—because you certainly didn’t see it on the news, a prime example of media bias.

And that bias is so upsetting because this largely uncovered event has serious implications.

Not once in her testimony did the Planned Parenthood representative say the newborn baby has a right to life. Not once did she say anyone has a duty to care for the child. Whether the living, breathing child survives is up to the adults in the room because, as we now know, Planned Parenthood doesn’t believe the baby has rights.

Planned Parenthood is an organization that receives taxpayer funding, including millions from the federal government. They also enjoy the unwavering support of almost all elected Democrats.

The President, the Senate Majority Leader, the House Democratic Leader, and the Chair of the Democratic National Committee (in whose home state this hearing occurred) made funding Planned Parenthood an issue in the 2012 campaign. They should now all be held to account for that outspoken support. If the media won’t, then voters must ask the pressing questions: Do these Democrats also believe a newborn has no rights? Do they also endorse infanticide?

I certainly hope not. I hope this is a place where we can all find common ground. Surely, all Americans can agree that a newborn deserves immediate medical care—and, if necessary, emergency care—regardless of the circumstances of birth.

As a proud pro-life Republican, I firmly believe that an unborn child has a right to life. I realize there are those who disagree, but I never thought there was a debate over whether a newborn child had a right to life. Some may not believe life begins at conception, but don’t we all agree life begins at birth?

Apparently not.

Liberals often attack conservative lawmakers for casting a wary eye toward federal and state funding for Planned Parenthood. They can’t seem to comprehend why anyone would oppose giving taxpayer dollars to the abortion provider. Maybe now they can understand.

In the last election, Republicans were repeatedly asked about whether they supported cutting funding to Planned Parenthood. It’s time Democrats are asked whether they still support funding an organization that refuses to care for a newborn.

And this case of blatant media bias—cover-up really—should also be cause for some thoughtful self-examination among journalists.

There is one clear, overriding lesson from November: we didn’t have enough voters. So, we have to find more supporters. We have to go places we haven’t been, and we have to invite new people to join us.

But the good news is our principles are sound. Yes, some would like us to compromise our principles. But that would make us little more than watered-down Democrats, and it would be wrong for our party and for our country.

As Republicans and as conservatives, we stand for opportunity and for liberty, and freedom is always a new idea—an ever-fresh, revolutionary idea. No one has come to America in search of a superior government bureaucracy. They come for a better life, in pursuit of happiness, a dream, a goal.

So we must stand by our timeless principles—and articulate them in ways that are modern, relevant to our time and relatable to the majority of voters.

Democrats are the party of big government. (The president’s inaugural address erased any lingering doubts about that.) Give Democrats a problem and they’ve got the same old solution: a federal bureaucracy. That’s not new. That’s not modern.

We live in an age of rapid, bottom-up, organic change. Yet our liberal-inspired government is slow, bloated, and out-of-date.

So we’re the party that offers something new. We’re the party of innovation, and innovation isn’t born from a government office building; it comes from garages and laboratories and dorm rooms. We are the party that says the individual can make better decisions than the bureaucrat.

We can unite Americans around our values if we prove we can take them to a better place. So we must take our message to all voters and to every state.

That means it’s time to stop looking at elections through the lens of “battleground states.” We have four years till the next presidential election, and being a “blue state” is not a permanent diagnosis.

We also have to take our message of opportunity where it’s not being heard. We have to build better relationships in minority communities, urban centers, and college towns. Simple “outreach” a few months before an election will not suffice. In fact, we must stop talking about “reaching out”—and start working on welcoming in.

And in the digital space, we don’t want just to keep up. We want to seize the lead. In the early 2000s, the RNC was on the cutting edge of voter data and micro-targeting, and we can be again.

As a party, we must recognize that we live in an era of permanent politics. We must stop living nominee-to-nominee, campaign to campaign. As we saw this election, our opponent benefited from a multi-year head-start. Now is the time to begin to develop a permanent, national field infrastructure and get a head-start of our own.

In all of this, we must promote our values. We must define ourselves before others define us.

There’s no better way to do that than to spotlight conservative policies in practice—and that is best seen today on the state level. States with Republican governors are creating more jobs. And in 2012, eight of the ten top states for business were led by Republicans.

Growing the party to be more welcoming and more inclusive does not require abandoning our principles. It doesn’t require resorting to the cynical, divisive identity politics of the Democratic Party; it means embracing our common identity as freedom-loving Americans.

In the next election, I don’t know who people will vote for. I don’t even know who will run. But I know this: We must be a Republican Party that people will want to join—a party that inspires again, an optimistic party that says “follow us to a brighter future,” a party of prosperity, success, and freedom.

That’s a party that can win.

Don’t take my word for it. Ask Vice President Joe Biden.

At a Tuesday campaign rally, he offered a remarkably candid assessment of the Obama presidency: “the middle class…has been buried in the last four years.”

Finally, Joe Biden’s making some sense.

As every family struggling to make ends meet knows all too well, the last four years have been devastating for the middle class:

• 23.1 million Americans are either unemployed or underemployed or have given up looking for work.
• Unemployment has been above 8 percent for 43 straight months and is higher than when President Obama took office.
• About four million workers have left the labor force, mostly because the job market offers so few prospects.
• Median household income is down $4,520 from $55,918 in January 2009 to $50,678 in August 2012.
• The middle class is shrinking. 49.1 million Americans are living in poverty, and another 97.3 million qualify as “low-income.”
• Food prices are rising and gas prices have doubled, but incomes have fallen.
• Under Obama, the average cost of family health care premiums has increased by $3,065.
• The national debt is now over $16 trillion.

Sadly, the list goes on, but the message is clear: On Obama’s watch, the middle class indeed “has been buried.”

Now if the vice president knows this, you would think he and President Obama would have new ideas or a bold agenda for creating jobs in the second term they seek. But they don’t.

The only policy plan the president has for a second term is a tax increase, which according to a study by the firm Ernst & Young would cost America 710,000 jobs. The middle class has been buried in the last four years, but Obama and Biden want to bury them some more.

We need a new direction. We need a president with a plan to save and strengthen and empower the middle class—to dig us out of the last four years of failed policies.

The Romney-Ryan Plan for a Stronger Middle Class will do just that. It is expected to create 12 million new jobs over the next four years. It has five key components:

1. Implement the Romney plan for North American energy independence, which will not only create good jobs but will also make energy more affordable and more secure.

2. Ensure every American has the education they need to find a good job, and improve job training so those who are looking for work have the skills they need in today’s job market.

3. Pursue trade policy that works in America’s interests; crack down on cheaters like China that gain an unfair advantage and hurt American workers and American companies.

4. Get our spending under control and cut the deficit to protect our investments before they are lost in a Greece-style economic meltdown.

5. Champion small business; instead of imposing new taxes and excessive regulations, free small businesses from the heavy-hand of government bureaucrats to create the jobs we so desperately need.

In addition, Mitt Romney will cut taxes for the middle class, bringing much needed relief to families whose budgets are stretched thin and who are worried about their future.

There’s hard work ahead, but unlike President Obama, Mitt Romney has a record of getting the job done. From starting companies and saving businesses to rescuing an Olympics and governing a state, Mitt Romney has spent his life turning around difficult situations.

America needs a turnaround. The middle class knows it. And even Joe Biden knows it. But only Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have a plan to take us toward a better future.

Yesterday marked 100 days till the presidential election. Undecided voters will begin to weigh their options more closely. Will they choose four more years of slow economic growth, or a new direction?

This means now is the time to get involved! Here’s how: This coming weekend is Super Saturday, where volunteers across the country will be mobilizing to get the word out to voters by making phone calls or going door-to-door to potential Republican voters. If you’re in a battleground state, find a Victory Office near you or sign up for an event by visiting the Social Victory Center on Facebook. If you’re not in a battleground state, or can’t make one of our events on Saturday, you can use the Social Victory Center to make phone calls from home using our phone-from-home program. Even just a few calls or doors knocks makes a huge difference.

In the coming weeks, voters will watch conventions, debates, and rallies. These are important, but recently, Americans have heard nearly all they need to know to cast their ballots—most of it from the president himself.

Last week President Obama said, “We tried our plan—and it worked.” Days later, the quarterly GDP report showed the economy grew by a feeble 1.5 percent in the second quarter, meaning the economy is actually slowing down.

In short, his plan has not “worked.”

He has lost touch and also lost focus. A “Daily Economic Briefing” has not appeared on his schedule since April of 2011. He has not convened his Jobs Council in over six months. Yet somehow in that time, he squeezed in over 110 fundraisers and 11 rounds of golf.

We see his true priorities.

We also saw his true views on America’s free enterprise system when he said recently, “If you have a business, you didn’t build that. Someone else made that happen.” This was a revelation. It was President Obama’s most explicit attack on business owners and innovators on record—the clearest articulation of his belief that government is responsible for all that is good in America.

As President Reagan famously said, “Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.”

Today, that problem is President Obama’s big government agenda—tax increases, over-regulation, reckless spending, skyrocketing debt, and Obamacare. Small business owners that are surviving are doing so not because of government, but in spite of it.

President Obama’s hostility toward free enterprise is a stark departure from what America has long stood for, and it is taking a toll, day by day, on American families.

Our country needs a turnaround, a fresh start—something Mitt Romney is uniquely qualified to deliver.

Throughout his career, Mitt Romney has turned around enterprises that were on a path toward disaster—companies that were hurting, an Olympics that was failing, a state that was struggling. In each case, he provided steady-handed leadership and produced results. Businesses flourished. The 2002 Winter Olympics were a tremendous success and a source of national pride. Massachusetts’ economy grew and created jobs.

When then-candidate Obama stood before the America people in the final 100 days before the 2008 election, he was untested. He had never served as an executive. He had not run a business, an enterprise, or a state. But his words convinced many independent voters—and even a few Republicans—to take a chance on him.

Today, the results speak for themselves. It’s time for a change. In 2008, those that chose Obama voted for him because of his words. This time, they can vote on his record.

That record demands a new direction. And Mitt Romney’s record shows he is more than capable of providing it. New directions, turnarounds, and fresh starts are his calling card.

As we count down the days, we have to make that contrast absolutely clear in the minds of all voters.

The clock is ticking.

]]> http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/2012/07/30/the-time-for-action-is-now-a-message-to-grassroots-conservatives/feed/ 7 http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/2012/07/13/the-flexible-president-sees-no-threats/ http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/2012/07/13/the-flexible-president-sees-no-threats/#comments Fri, 13 Jul 2012 14:32:27 +0000 Chairman Reince Priebus (Diary) http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/?p=99 Read More »]]> Over the past few months President Obama has argued that Hugo Chavez is not a threat, offered post-election flexibility to Vladimir Putin, and granted visas to Raul Castro’s daughter and other Cuban officials. It almost seems the president is going out of his way to undermine American strength. He’s emboldening enemies and nations who frequently oppose our interests—at a time when they also happen to be supporting a murderous regime in Syria.

This pattern gives Americans good reason to worry that the president’s foreign policy is either careless or naïve.

Let’s look at the facts:

This week, the president told a reporter that Venezuela’s radical president Hugo Chavez, “has not had a serious national security impact on us.” The President of the United States said he believes Venezuela’s anti-American dictator is no threat.

Really?

Just last week a delegation from Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese terrorist group, met with officials in Cuba and Venezuela. Venezuelan officials are meeting with a sponsor of terrorism, but President Obama does not see that as having any “serious national security impact.”

Even the State Department’s website seems to contradict the president’s distorted view:

Since 2005, President Chavez has deepened relations with Iran, a U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism. The Venezuelan Government has signed multiple economic and social accords with Iran and has publicly supported its controversial nuclear program. Chavez has defined Iran as a close “strategic ally.”

The State Department further notes: “President Chavez has also reached out to North Korea, Belarus, and Syria, the latter another state sponsor of terrorism.”

In 2009, a cable was sent to the State Department, expressing Mexican President Calderon’s concerns about Venezuela’s influence in the region and the Chavez regime’s ties to Iran:

Calderon underscored that Iran’s growing influence in Latin American should be of considerable concern to the United States, and Chavez is doing all he can to aid and abet it.

Unlike President Obama, Gov. Romney understands the truth about Hugo Chavez.  In response to the president’s recent statement, he explained the threat posed by the dictator:

Hugo Chavez has provided safe haven to drug kingpins, encouraged regional terrorist organizations that threaten our allies like Colombia, has strengthened military ties with Iran and helped it evade sanctions, and has allowed a Hezbollah presence within his country’s borders. And he is seeking to lead – together with the Castros – a destabilizing, anti-democratic, and anti-American ‘Bolivarian Revolution’ across Latin America.

Nothing “serious” about that right?  (For a closer look at the Chavez regime’s impact on its neighbors and the world, take a look at this RNC Research document.)

This is not an isolated incident. In recent months, the president has gotten far too chummy with regimes that do not always share our strategic interests.

The Obama administration gladly gave visas to leaders of the oppressive Castro regime, including Raul Castro’s daughter Mariela. Mariela repaid the favor by offering her endorsement of the president’s reelection campaign during her May visit to the United States.

Granting the visas was so unconscionable that even DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz rebuked the administration’s decision. We rarely share the same opinion, but we agreed that rolling out the red carpet to Communists is not in the best interest of the United States.

President Obama seems equally eager to serve the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, along with Venezuela’s Chavez, continues to support the Assad regime in Syria that is killing its own people.

In March, a live microphone caught President Obama asking outgoing Russian President Medvedev, for more “space” on a U.S. missile defense plan, which Russia vehemently opposes. Obama explained, “After my election, I have more flexibility.”

Medvedev said he would “transmit this information to Vladimir.”

Did he transmit that to Chavez, Castro, and Assad, as well?  Either way, they’ve surely received the message by now.

]]> http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/2012/07/13/the-flexible-president-sees-no-threats/feed/ 0 http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/2012/06/08/doing-fine/ http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/2012/06/08/doing-fine/#comments Fri, 08 Jun 2012 21:00:29 +0000 Chairman Reince Priebus (Diary) http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/?p=93 Read More »]]> Obama can’t fix a problem he can’t see.

No, you heard him right. At a press conference this morning, the President of the United States actually said, “The private sector is doing fine.”

Mr. President, are you paying attention? Take off the rose-colored glasses. (Although, thanks to your fashion industry fundraising friends, I’m sure they’re very stylish rose-colored glasses.)

The private sector is small businesses. It’s middle class families that run them. It’s entrepreneurs and start ups and job creators. And it’s not “doing fine.” Incomes are dropping, prices are rising, and the future is becoming more uncertain.

Twenty-three million Americans are struggling to find work. Forty-six million are living in poverty. Families can barely figure out how to make ends meet. The unemployment rate has been above 8 percent for 40 months—the longest period of such chronically high unemployment since World War II.

We knew President Obama was hostile to the private sector. We knew he did not understand free enterprise. We just did not realize he was this astoundingly out of touch.

President Obama has candidly, honestly, exposed his economic worldview. He believes big government needs to create more jobs, not the private sector. Forget free enterprise, he says. We need more government! More bureaucracy! More deficit spending!

The people of Wisconsin have something to say on that matter.

This is the danger of a president who has zero private sector experience. He does not understand what policies are good for the economy because he does not even recognize what’s wrong with the economy.

So we get ObamaCare, massive regulations, and plans for higher taxes. The president’s policies are job-killers. Job creators cannot hire new workers because Obama’s policies have made hiring unaffordable and impossible.

We need a president with private sector experience. If it was not clear before, it is now painfully obvious. Thankfully, Mitt Romney has excellent private sector experience. Even former President Bill Clinton praises his “sterling business career.”

Gov. Romney knows the truth about the American economy. He knows Americans are hurting, and he has a plan to create jobs. He put his business experience to work as governor of Massachusetts and got results. He will do the same as president.

Any voter who wonders whether to vote for Gov. Romney or for President Obama in November should remember this: President Obama thinks the “private sector is doing fine.” If you don’t collect a government paycheck, he thinks you’re “doing fine.” And that means he doesn’t think you—or your neighbors, or your children looking for work—are struggling.

Is that the kind of president we want?

]]> http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/2012/06/08/doing-fine/feed/ 50 http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/2012/06/01/on-jobs-obama-is-running-from-reality/ http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/2012/06/01/on-jobs-obama-is-running-from-reality/#comments Fri, 01 Jun 2012 13:08:08 +0000 Chairman Reince Priebus (Diary) http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/?p=87 Read More »]]> Today’s extremely troubling jobs report is yet another sad reminder that President Obama’s policies simply are not working—and that we need a president who understands the economy.

Last night on CNN former President Bill Clinton praised Mitt Romney’s “sterling” career in the private sector. This morning Steny Hoyer echoed that sentiment, underscoring the importance of the private sector in growing our economy. While Mitt Romney’s sterling record demonstrates that he knows what it takes to fix our economy, today’s jobs report shows that President Obama’s record is irreparably tarnished.

In short, President Obama has failed to live up to the promise of his candidacy. In 2009, he and his team promised an unemployment rate below 6 percent by 2012. We’re far from it.

And now, President Obama talks about the economy as though he has not been president for the last three years.

“It is absolutely critical,” he said Wednesday, to make sure the economy is “moving full speed ahead.”

Yes, it is. But Obama has spent the last three years holding us back. The president yells, “Forward!” even as he moves backward.

For the weak economy, we can thank Obama’s weak leadership. Instead of pursuing policies that would help job creators put Americans back to work, he’s burdened them with ObamaCare, regulations, and continued threats of higher taxes.

But don’t take my word for it.

Listen to former Congressman Artur Davis, a 2008 Obama National Co-Chair who this week left the Democrat Party: “I have regularly criticized an agenda that would punish businesses and job creators with more taxes just as they are trying to thrive again.”

Not only has President Obama presided over a devastating economy, but he also refuses to hold himself accountable for it. In 2009, however, he was singing a different tune. If he didn’t have the economy fixed “in three years,” he promised, his presidency would be a “one-term proposition.”

It’s been three years, but instead of accepting responsibility, the president casts blame elsewhere—ATMs, earthquakes, airport kiosks, and “bad luck,” among other scapegoats.

In May, he issued Congress a “to-do list,” his latest attempt to distract from his own incomplete task: job creation. And today, the president is in Minnesota to talk about the post-it size list.

While he will go to the trouble of traveling to Minnesota to speak about this political prop, he apparently has not gone to the trouble of looping in members of his own party on Capitol Hill. Democrat Senators Mary Landrieu, Bob Casey, and Carl Levin admitted to Roll Call they don’t even know what’s on it.

If he has not taken the time to inform his friends at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, President Obama must not be too serious about his little list.

No, he’s more concerned about another to-do list: his list of campaign fundraisers. Today, he will attend six of them. He has already attended far more fundraisers for his re-election than his predecessors, 147 in total.

Even as he passes the buck, Obama is happy to rake in the bucks. The promises for his first term ignored, he’s thinking exclusively about a second term.

But unemployed Americans are still worried about the present. As today’s jobs report makes clear, far too many Americans are out of work, without enough work, or giving up on looking for work altogether.

President Obama is working hard to keep his job. It’s just a shame he’s not working as hard to ensure unemployed Americans can find jobs for themselves.

]]> http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/2012/06/01/on-jobs-obama-is-running-from-reality/feed/ 21 http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/2012/05/10/while-the-middle-class-is-hurting-obama-hobnobs-with-hollywood/ http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/2012/05/10/while-the-middle-class-is-hurting-obama-hobnobs-with-hollywood/#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 12:17:16 +0000 Chairman Reince Priebus (Diary) http://www.redstate.com/reincepriebus/?p=84 Read More »]]> The Celebrity-in-Chief heads to a Hollywood blockbuster fundraiser this afternoon. George Clooney stars as the host. Chef Wolfgang Puck plays a supporting role as caterer. And Obama is expected to rake in as much as $12 million, making it the biggest presidential fundraiser ever.

Of course, President Obama has a long history of hobnobbing with the Hollywood glitterati. He’s pitched movies to mogul Harvey Weinstein. He had Davis Guggenheim direct a documentary on his first term. He even hosted a secret “Alice in Wonderland” costume ball at the White House, decorated by Tim Burton and featuring Johnny Depp.

But, most notably, he’s taken their money—so much of their money. The president himself readily admits he depends on celebrity cash to fund his campaign.

“I’m going to need you,” he told Hollywood supporters a February fundraiser. “You’re going to carry this thing like you did in 2008.” From the looks of it, they have obliged.

The president is “getting an especially warm embrace from Hollywood and the broader entertainment industry,” reports the Washington Post.

“Entertainment industry donors contributed about $7.1 million to the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee,” found the Wall Street Journal.

But at what cost?

While he’s noshing with notables, courting celebrities, and soliciting stars, the middle class is being squeezed.

Since President Obama took office, the unemployment rate has increased from 7.8 percent to 8.1 percent. Today, 23 million Americans are struggling to find work; they’re unemployed or underemployed, or they have given up looking for work altogether.

Over the last three and a half years, far too many middle class families have lost their home or lost their jobs. Those that are working have seen their paychecks get smaller, even as gas, groceries, and healthcare become more expensive.

The latest census numbers reveal the middle class has shrunk during the Obama presidency. And 49.1 million Americans are living in poverty—a heart-breaking record.

The president mortgages our children’s future with record deficit spending, adding $5 trillion to the national debt already and no plan to stop.

With the president appearing increasingly out-of-touch, and his policies leaving Americans out of work, it’s unsurprising that only 19 percent of voters believe Obama’s policies favor the middle class, according to a CBS-New York Times poll.

The Clooney fundraiser will be Obama’s 133rd fundraiser since declaring reelection. No president has held nearly as many fundraisers as President Obama. Then again, no modern president has had to paper over such a dismal record.

But with middle class Americans reeling from the effects of Obama’s failed leadership, not even Hollywood magic can cover up the truth.

With a first term this disastrous, we can’t afford to see the second—because if we’ve learned anything from Hollywood, it’s that the sequel is always worse.

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