Boehner Video Stars "Job-Sniffing Bloodhound" To Whack Obama

The loss of 467,000 jobs in June, driving the national unemployment rate to 9.5 percent, is unwelcome news for the Obama administration, which has spent half a year trying to turn the tide of the economic downfall. Already the president has conceded that 10 percent unemployment is likely in America's future. But the job front remains a particular vulnerability for this White House -- the one major chink in the Obama armor, far more politically delicate than the president's handling of foreign affairs or health care.

And so, it shouldn't come as a surprise that within minutes of their release, Obama's political opponents turned the porous June job numbers against him. Obviously anticipating the bad news, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) released a web video featuring a job-sniffing bloodhound named Ellie Mae asking: "Where are the jobs."

The clip, a Boehner aide says, is meant to be tongue-in-cheek. Narrated by Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga), it is based off a 1984 TV commercial by the Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

"This is a light-hearted web video, but the underlying point is no laughing matter," Boehner said in a statement. "At a time when Americans are looking to Washington for leadership, the trillion-dollar 'stimulus' isn't working. Americans were promised the stimulus would keep the unemployment rate from going above 8 percent. It's now skyrocketing above 9 percent. Where are the jobs?"

WATCH:

Obama's allies will point out that the foundation of this current wave of job loss is rooted in the policies of the Bush administration. Economic models hold that the stimulus spending by the administration won't take affect fully until months from now. But, six months into office, it is also a widely accepted that the White House now "owns" much of this economy. Even Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has insisted that the success of the administration's policies should be measured in the number of jobs created.

"A good starting point is looking at broad measures of economic performance, like jobs," Geithner said in a response to questions posed by Huffington Post readers.

The Treasury Secretary went on to note that "job losses in the month of May were at their lowest level since September 2008." That talking point, however, now seems inoperative as pace of job losses in June was nearly 50 percent greater than the month before.

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Comments

[LooktotheLeft]

Now's your chance to make a run for it Ellie Mae.....RU­NNNNNNNNNN­NNNNNNNNNN­NN!!!!!!

[batspaul]

Hey, his dog uses the same shade of spray tan!

It looks better on the dog.

[MrJoyboy]

Bloodhounds--isn't that what Boehner's ancestors used to track down runaway slaves? Nice symbolism. It's in their DNA.

[LooktotheLeft]

Correction, it's what he still uses Ellie Mae for when African Americans have the misfortune of venturing into his neighborhood

[ufopp]

Does this dog have a good sense of smell? I know the bloodhound next to him does.

[sviolette]

Good and sense don't belong in any sentence about that Boener.

[Emlyn]

You mean Boehner smells?

[matteroftruth]

Is this the best Boehner can come up with as a solution to help clean up the mess he and his party handed to Obama and the american people? He should just go back to the suntan booth where he spends most of his time anyway.

[northstar11]

i guess that bridge to the hamburger joint built itself.

[sippewissett]

We are an ADD nation. We want everything solved, cured or outed in 24 hours. The plain facts are that it took over a decade to get us into this fiscal mess, that both parties "own" a piece of (though clearly Bush led the charge). It will take us a long time to come back out of it too. Right now Stimulus monies take an age to make their way into the economy and if those of us with jobs aren't spending, the economy isn't going to leap-frog along any time soon.

Of greater interest to me is what Boehner would do instead? Here he says it's more tax breaks, this time for small businesses (who aren't the engine to turn around this flagging economy). So the GOP wouldn't try to prop up the auto industry that accounts for 10% of the American workforce (when including suppliers), wouldn't help financial services organizations that are the CORE problem and wouldn't have public work projects to restore the infrastructure that Repugs never fund.

Bottom Line: Until such time as the GOP comes up with alternatives, they remain The Party of No and Boehner, one of their chief do-das.

[GrainneKathleen]

heehaw! thought i saw the dukes of hazard peeling down the road!

[garymc8]

What a pack of hypochristians. Where were you and that bloodhound for the 8 years of outsourcing and the slow execution of the middle class under the spoiled rich kid ?

[take10]

Looking at the dog, I can now see where he gets his color from! Now, if only he had as much sense as the dog, he'd probably do better at being relevant!

[scully05]

What is his objective:

To stir up hate-filled rhertoric among certain American people to believe that the present government has failed to produce what was promised by our President. President Obama SAID that is won't be easy and it will not happen overnight. This figure and all like, WANT our President to fail. Let's not give him the chance.

Do they remember that:

BUSH is the one who signed the first 789 billion dollar stimulas agreement BEFORE he left office I do believe, to INTENTIONALLY bankrupt America.

[rf dude]

Twilight Zone, Viet-cong episode.
--

[Dbos]

This is the color I am. looking for

[1differentdrummer]

In the picture, which is which?

[rf dude]

Dog looks like it's got a little "Mississippi Leg Hound " in him.

And that's a beautiful bloodhound laying on the ground next to him...
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