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A Daily Chronicle of Bush Administration Distortion February 19, 2004
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Bush Provides 2.6 Million Examples of Misleading



On February 9th, President Bush endorsed and personally signed his name to a White House economic report1 that promised he would create 2.6 million jobs by the end of 20042. The report was released to great fanfare, yet, less than two weeks later, the president and his top Cabinet officials are now refusing to stand by those predictions.

Specifically, the Associated Press reports that the president "distanced himself"3 from his own predictions, refused to directly answer a question about it4, and deployed White House spokesman Scott McClellan to deflect more questions. When McClellan was asked about the president's personal promise to create 2.6 million new jobs, McClellan said the president is not interested "in crunching numbers."5

The retreat by the president might have something to do with his past jobs promises not coming true. As the Economic Policy Institute notes, "the administration projected that a total of 2,142,000 jobs would be created in the first seven months after [its 2003] tax cuts took effect. In fact, only 296,000 jobs were created over that period for a cumulative shortfall of 1,846,000 jobs."6

The president's retreat from his personal pledge came as Treasury Secretary John Snow, Commerce Secretary Donald Evans and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao are touting the president's economic plans in the Pacific Northwest7 - a region struggling with high unemployment. Snow and Evans both refused to endorse the president's 2.6 million job promise.8 And as the Cabinet officials spend thousands of taxpayer dollars on their public relations trip, they "said meeting with unemployed workers was not part of their agenda"9 and indicated the Administration refuses to back an extension of unemployment benefits10.

Sources:
  1. "Parties clash over job migration", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 02/13/04.
  2. "Bush says U.S. will add 2.6 million jobs in 2004", The Olympian, 02/10/04.
  3. "Bush Backs Off Forecast of 2.6M New Jobs", ABC News, 02/18/04.
  4. President Bush Discusses War on Terrorism with Tunisian President , 02/18/04.
  5. Press Briefing by Scott McClellan, 02/18/04.
  6. Job Watch.
  7. "Cabinet caravan touts successes in Northwest swing ", The Oregonian, 02/18/04.
  8. "Bush backs off estimate of 2.6 million jobs", Sun Hearld, 02/18/04.
  9. "Better times near, Bush officials tell state areas hurting for jobs", Seattle Times, 02/18/04.
  10. "Accounts of job losses clash", The Oregonian, 02/19/04.



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