Bachmann called Obama “politically paralyzed and philosophically incapable of doing what needs to be done” to help the economy.
REUTERS/Molly Riley
Bachmann called Obama “politically paralyzed and philosophically incapable of doing what needs to be done” to help the economy.

WASHINGTON — The last time President Obama spoke to Congress, when he gave a State of the Union address in January, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann went on national television to offer a tea party rebuttal.

On Thursday night, Bachmann did the same thing, but her audience was a smattering of reporters and her message was veiled in the understanding that it came from a candidate looking to gain traction in the race for her party’s presidential nomination.

Bachmann called Obama “politically paralyzed and philosophically incapable of doing what needs to be done” to help the economy. She said his $447 billion jobs plan “continued to cling to the idea that government is the solution to creating jobs.

“The only remedies the president knows are temporary government-directed fixes,” she said. “And even if the president’s plan passes, we already know it will fail in practice. We haven’t paid for his last trillion-dollar jobs program [the 2009 stimulus act] and now his latest program would have us embrace over $400 billion in new government spending, and no one knows where that money will come from.”

Bachmann introduced a nine-point plan she said would help turn the economy around. At its heart: cut taxes, strip regulations and repeal Obamacare and the Wall Street reform law Congress passed in 2010.

“What I heard this evening from the president is no more than the failed gimmicks that he’s brought forth before,” she said. “These nine proposals are ones that would turn the economy around.”

The 6th District Congresswoman didn’t attend Obama’s speech because bad weather delayed her arrival in Washington. She said she listened to Obama’s speech on the radio driving to the Capitol. Bachmann had been in California for a Republican presidential debate Wednesday night.

Bachmann dipped into campaign mode a few times during her press conference. She told anecdotes from the campaign trail and highlighted her background as a small business owner and a tax attorney, both stump speech staples.

Bachmann’s polling numbers have dipped since Texas Gov. Rick Perry entered the presidential race on the same day she won the Iowa straw poll. She took no questions about the campaign during her press conference.

Devin Henry can be reached at dhenry@minnpost.com.

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7 Comments

  3. I’d agree with Ms. Bachmann that President Obama is “politically paralyzed”. But it’s because he faces a unified Republican party who wants him out of office at any cost. According to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

    Now that is downright scary. Not jobs. Not the economy. Not world peace. Number 1 is they want Obama out. Even when they were in the minority in the senate, they used the filibuster to block his every move. Now that they hold the House and have made gains in the Senate, the gridlock will be worse.

    They were elected to govern, not make political maneuvers.

  4. “As if” her impractical ideas could work. She has quite a proven record herself doesn’t she???

  6. Why in the world anyone would want to take economic advice from a woman who spent less than a handful of years as a newbie tax lawyer and who now claims to have been an integral part of her husband’s counseling practice is beyond me.

    Her 9-point plan, with it’s curious echo of a Soviet 5 year plan, is no more confidence inspiring. Consider:

    1) Repatriate American business dollars earned from overseas,

    Translation: let coporations bring home the money made overseas, tax free, even though these profits derive, directly and indirectly, from US operations. Then hope that the money will be used for something other than mergers and acquisitions which result in additional job losses.

    2) Massively cut spending and the size of government,

    And to hell with the impact on the economy.

    3) Repeal Obamacare, which is the government takeover of America’s healthcare system,

    Which hasn’t even gone into effect, by and large, and which she can’t demonstrate would have any impact on current levels of unemployment or the rate of growth of the economy.

    4) Cut taxes, including corporate taxes,

    Then turn to the West and bow in the direction of Ronald Reagan’s grave. Reagan’s success wasn’t based on cutting taxes, it came from eliminating deductions.

    5) Repeal Dodd-Frank,

    Because shareholders, investors and the public don’t require protection from corporate management?

    6) Repeal job killing regulations,

    Name 10.

    7) Increase exports by finalizing free trade agreements,

    OK, she got one!

    8) Spur new investment in America, inspire innovation,

    By what, putting on a cheerleader’s outfit?

    9) Provide job creating energy solutions, including decreased regulations on developing new energy supplies from our abundant domestic energy resources.

    Translation: build nuclear plants before we have a long-term storage facility; scrap the EPA and quit trying to con America into believing coal-burning plants have any impact on health; drill, baby, drill – even if the people of Florida don’t want you to; cut tax incentives for the installation of renewable resources and wait for the market to get around to it; etc.

  7. I hope she enjoyed the oxygen while it lasted because it’s going away soon.

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