McConnell: Obama Running Out of Economic Ideas

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is pleading with President Obama to deliver new ideas on the sluggish economic recovery.The president is scheduled to deliver a major economic address Thursday, which will be the first of the general election campaign and in the swing state of Ohio.But observers expect Mr. Obama won't offer any new jobs proposals and instead continue to push lawmakers to pass his "to-do" list.McConnell says Democrats are getting anxious about economic stagnation and the nearing election."We can expect more of the same: more government, more debt and higher taxes to pay for it all," he said on the Senate floor Wednesday. "Now, according to the news reports, some Democrats are starting to get a little wary of this approach. A number of folks who worked in the Clinton Administration have suggested something more positive. But others are pleading with the president to double down on the message that government is the answer."The Obama administration has put more pressure on Congress to take action on several jobs proposals the president submitted last year. It is expected Mr. Obama will also use the speech to respond to critics, contrast his policies with GOP challenger Mitt Romney and argue the economy will fall backward if voters elect the former Massachusetts governor.From USA Today: Obama also plans to condemn Romney's vision, which the campaign said is "based on the same failed economic policies that brought on the worst crisis since the Great Depression. "Romney Economics is familiar and troubling," said the Obama campaign. "More budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy; fewer rules for Wall Street—the same formula that benefited a few, but that crashed our economy and devastated the middle class."McConnell says the president is running out of ideas, adding lawmakers should take up comprehensive tax and entitlement reform—among other things—to get the economy moving again."But as I said yesterday, without presidential leadership, it simply can’t happen. The same failed policies aren’t going to cut it. The only question is whether Democrats in Washington are capable of seeing that,” he says.