In this article the author Jim Hoft talks about Obama’s statements at a fundraiser. Obama talks about how he inherited many problems with the country including the high dept. He also stated that many of the economic problems occurring right now are due to Europe. He talked about how problems in Spain, Italy and Greece are affecting the United States also. He also talked about how his economic plan is still a great plan for this country. At this fundraiser families paid fifteen thousand dollars to get a picture with the president. Obama also stated that in the past 17 months that under his watch we have seen job growth, rising corporate prices and the credit market stabilizing.
In this article Obama blames Europe and Bush for our countries current economic problems. In Chapter six we learned about how politicians use scapegoating to not put the blame on themselves. Scapegoating occurs when a politician puts the blame of a problem on an individual or a group. Obama blaming the economic problems the United States is facing on Europe and Bush is a prime example of Scapegoating. This is an example of scapegoating because he is blaming our economic problems on other people so it makes it seem like it is not his fault at all.
I don’t know, is it really scapegoating when what is said is true? It sounds more like priming or framing. He wants the American public to know the mess we are now in began way before he took office. That makes him more of a “tattle tale” and a little wimpy, than of being guilty of scapegoating. Its hard to blame the guy though. Things are really really bad in this country right now, Its hard to blame him for wanting to make it absolutely clear that he isn’t responsible for the policies that allowed this disaster to happen, but it is his responsibility along with Congress to put the policies in place that will at least begin to improve things.