Biden: 'America is better off' after first Obama term

In Charlotte, Democrats are poised to insist that their economic vision is better for America than that outlined by Mitt Romney; they insist the country is better off than it was four years ago. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.

 

DETROIT -- Amid a GOP-driven effort asking whether Americans are better off than they were four years ago, Vice President Joe Biden emphatically declared that "America is better off" now than at the end of the Bush administration.

"Folks, let me say something to you, say it to the press," Biden said at the conclusion of his remarks at a Labor Day rally here in the Motor City. "America is better off today than they left us when they left!"

The question, a staple of elections in which an incumbent is seeking re-election, has developed into a small media imbroglio since surrogates for President Barack Obama appeared hesitant this weekend to give a positive answer.

Democratic Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley answered that question with a "no"; Obama advisers David Axelrod and David Plouffe offered nuanced responses but not a flat "yes."

Republicans pounced in the meanwhile, and the GOP held a press conference today in Charlotte, the site of the Democratic National Convention, to push that very question.

Biden's statement makes him the highest-ranking Obama surrogate to weigh in on the back and forth. 

Repeating his frequent "bumper sticker" mantra, Biden said in Detroit: "If you want to know whether we're better off, I got a bumper sticker for you: Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive!"

Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said in response: "Today, Vice President Biden claimed that Americans are better off than they were four years ago, directly contradicting what President Obama and his campaign surrogates have said. The truth is that the middle class has been crushed in the Obama economy."

Biden, who spoke to several hundred supporters at the AFL-CIO-sponsored event, focused heavily on labor issues in his remarks and blasted Romney for opposing the Obama-backed bailout of the auto industry.

"Folks, you can't say you're going to create jobs in the United States of America when you were willing to let 1m jobs go under by the liquidation of the automobile plants he suggested," Biden said.

He also went after Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, repeating a line first debuted yesterday in Pennsylvania to attack the Wisconsin congressman's Medicare plans.

"We're talking about making sure to protect Medicare. They're talking about creating an entire new system, 'Vouchercare,'" he said, warning "if they win, people are in trouble."

 

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Could we be worse off? GOP = started 1930's Great Depression, 1991 Bush Sr. recession (Reagan set his own VP up), 2008 Bush Jr. recession....so repubs, where are the democrat caused recessions you can try to counter with?

    Reply#103 - Mon Sep 3, 2012 11:07 PM EDT

    Biden remindes me of that fellow in Baghdad, what was his name, oh yeah "Baghdad Bob". Remember how he kept saying they were kicking our ass at the same time we were marching in the streets of Baghdad.

    I think Biden should stick to his Rev. Wright imitation, "Chains". Love that southern style.

    • 2 votes
    Reply#104 - Mon Sep 3, 2012 11:20 PM EDT

    How is that DEMO America Convention going?

    Has Bill "I did not have sex with that woman" Clinton spoke yet?

    Did Bill get his license back after that perjury conviction. You know I'm beliving anything he says.

    Will Biden do his Rev. Wright imitation "Chains"

    Monica could give them a raitings boost

    Don't forget the big gun... Jimmy "Recession" Carter

    DEMO America Convention, (variety show at best)

    • 2 votes
    Reply#105 - Mon Sep 3, 2012 11:27 PM EDT

    You mean Bill "what did you repubs do to my balanced budget?" Clinton.

      #105.1 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 6:32 AM EDT

      Yes Bill "I'm riding on Regan and Bushes Coat tails" Clinton

        #105.2 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 12:56 PM EDT

        That Clinton was "slick". Heard he really liked the women folk. Wasn't he Married. Great roll model.

        Lets not even talk about the perjury.

          #105.3 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 1:00 PM EDT

          Ticktock

          I would of thought Jimmey would have been your Hero?

            #105.4 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 1:04 PM EDT
            Reply
          • According to Forbes Magazine...
            • General Motors Is Headed For Bankruptcy -- Again

            President Obama is proud of his bailout of General Motors. That’s good, because, if he wins
            a second term, he is probably going to have to bail GM out again. The company is once again losing market
            share, and it seems unable to develop products that are truly competitive in the U.S. market.

            Right now, the federal government owns 500,000,000 shares of GM, or about 26% of the company. It
            would need to get about $53.00/share for these to break even on the bailout, but the stock closed at only $20.21/share on Tuesday. This left the government holding $10.1 billion worth of stock, and sitting on an unrealized loss of $16.4 billion.

            Right now, the government’s GM stock is worth about 39% less than it was on November 17, 2010, when the company went public at $33.00/share. However, during the intervening time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen by almost 20%, so GM shares have lost 49% of their value relative to the Dow.

            It’s doubtful that the Obama administration would attempt to sell off the government’s massive position in GM while the stock price is falling. It would be too embarrassing politically. Accordingly, if GM shares
            continue to decline, it is likely that Obama would ride the stock down to zero.

            GM is unlikely to hit the wall before the election, but, given current trends, the company could easily do so again before the end of a second Obama term.

            In the 1960s, GM averaged a 48.3% share of the U.S. car and truck market. For the first 7 months of 2012, their market share was 18.0%, down from 20.0% for the same period in 2011. With a loss of market share comes a loss of relative cost-competitiveness. There is only so much market share that GM can lose before it would no longer have the resources to attempt to recover.

            see the rest of the article at http://www.forbes.com/sites/louiswoodhill/2012/08/15/general-motors-is-headed-for-bankruptcy-again/

            • Just another liberal that thinks government can successfully dabble in private sector business!!! Mighty expensive way to purchase UAW votes if you ask me.... GM's UAW workers will be better off until after the election and then their going to be in the same predicament as they were before the bailout!!!

            Romney/Ryan 2012!!! Leadership for a Change!!!

            • 1 vote
            Reply#106 - Mon Sep 3, 2012 11:27 PM EDT

            Only if you consider yourself an elite Communist like Biden and Obama consider themselves.

            • 1 vote
            Reply#107 - Mon Sep 3, 2012 11:33 PM EDT

            Dumb and Dumber are better off maybe but obama your welfare momma and biden are on the way out and should not let the white house door hit them in the arse on the way out. Put your tennis shoes on, get on your mark set go, get the hell out you couple of idiots, better off now than when they took office, wow I thought those 2 idiots were anti marijuana, turns out they smoke a ton

            • 2 votes
            Reply#108 - Mon Sep 3, 2012 11:35 PM EDT

            My favorite so far is still... "They didn't build that"

            That my friends is SOCIALISM at its core.

            • 2 votes
            Reply#109 - Mon Sep 3, 2012 11:39 PM EDT

            Biden need only to walk into any Mall in America, store after store empty.

            Socialism does not work, never has never will.

            • 1 vote
            Reply#110 - Mon Sep 3, 2012 11:43 PM EDT

            Message to Obama:

            Course is almost dry, Cart battery is charged, Monday looks Excellent.

            Need info on lunch menue.

            Will the Misses be with you or will she arive on a seperate flight?

            • 1 vote
            Reply#111 - Mon Sep 3, 2012 11:46 PM EDT

            Well this pretty much proves that Biden is obviously an alcoholic as only someone drunk could make such an outrageous claim. Damn Biden, you said that in Detroit where people are absolutely begging for work. Newsflash, not everyone in Detroit works for Government Motors (GM).

              Reply#112 - Mon Sep 3, 2012 11:54 PM EDT

              RNC Platform for America

              1. No Healthcare for Women, the middle class, minorities and the poor

              2. No Social Security, No Medicare or Medicaid

              3. No Planned Parenthood

              4. Suppress the vote for the poor and minorities

              5. Hatred for anyone that disagree with them and especially our current president

              6. Lets claim to world that we are christians. (what a joke)

              7. We are the party of the KKK/Neo-nazis, but we just wear suits to work everyday

              8. Okay to rape women, because they have a way to prevent getting pregnant by the rapist.

              9. Women cannot decide for themselves unless we approve including women in our own party. We adore the Taliban, because they know the right way to treat women.

              You get the picture this is a very evil party hiding behind christian values.

                Reply#113 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 12:03 AM EDT

                DEMO America Party:

                No Housing Market

                More Taxes

                No Jobs

                More Taxes

                More Welfare

                More Taxes

                Mandentory Taxes

                More Empty Stores

                More Taxes

                More IRS Agents More Taxes

                SOCIALISM Forever

                  #113.1 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 12:42 PM EDT
                  Reply

                  Mr. Biden lets look below the surface. General Motors would have been far better off if it had been allowed to go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They could have shed their bloated benefit union contract and emerged smaller but much stronger. We also would not have been saddled with the billions that we gave them and will never see again. Also the "Obamamobile" aka. Chevy Volt would never have been built.

                  As for taking credit for the death of Osama bin laden, again this is stretching the truth. All the work was done by our military and civilian intelligence. Your participation was merely giving the OK. Had it become public that you had Osama in your gunsights and failed to pull the trigger, it would have been the end of you. The people would have stormed the White House and lynched you. Of course as bad as you are, it could be worse. If the scenario that I just layer out would have come to pass we would now have President Biden. Even you are a better choice than old Joe.

                    Reply#114 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 12:03 AM EDT

                    benr,

                    That's some fantasy world you live in. You seem to be the only one that thinks Bin Laden is still alive. Al Quida thinks he's dead, the Navy Seal that just released his book, thinks he's dead...but you, you think he's alive. Maybe he's hiding out with Bigfoot. BTW, GM is once again the #1 automaker in the world.

                    If I may interject a little more reality...Some people are better off, and some aren't. If you ask auto industry workers, and the manufacturers that supply them parts, they will probably tell you they are better off. If you ask senior citizens that used to pay a great deal for prescriptions, and now pay much less, they will probably tell you they are better off. If you ask returning vets, who can now get a 4 yr. degree, all payed for by the government ( which the Republicans opposed, I might add), they will probably tell you they are better off. if you ask a college grad who can't get a job, they will probably tell you no. If you ask one of the many teachers, police officers, or firemen let go, they will probably yell you no. If you ask me, yes I am better off. I am better off because of outside forces that I could not have forseen 4 yrs. ago, and have nothing to do with President Obama, or his policies. Just like some people are not better off, and it has nothing to do with the president, or his policies. In other words, it's a stupid question.

                    • 1 vote
                    Reply#115 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 12:10 AM EDT

                    Yes, I think we're better off than 4 years ago. The health care legislation alone is good enough for me, which no President has accomplished Thank you Mr. Obama. I work in a restaurant and don't get health insurance with my job. I'm tired of paying higher prices for goods and services to pay for other peoples health insurance, then hear people whine that they might have to pay higher prices to pay for mine. Shame on you Republicans for your stand on the issue. You're against entitlements. Give up your health insurance and pensions, which are a huge entitlement, which you think that you are entitled to.

                      Reply#116 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 12:26 AM EDT

                      You must have one of those good government jobs, or your just as stupid ad Biden.

                      Sorry, I'm usually more rational that this, but listening to morons is getting old. Besides your story is propaganda. Your story isn't even as good as the old "Radio Moscow" first person crap.

                      • 1 vote
                      #116.1 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 12:50 AM EDT

                      Bussing Tables is not a career. Taking care of you is getting old.

                        #116.2 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 12:45 PM EDT
                        Reply

                        Again for the umpteenth time,

                        None of you in here understands economics or bankruptcy laws at all.

                        By saying they "saved GM and Chrysler and 1 million jobs" is a bald faced lie.

                        The truth is that us american taxpayers BORROWED the money from China to enable the corrupt unions and inept leaders in those companies.

                        Look, the same people are still there! What makes you think this time around they will clean up their act and all of a sudden be proficient?

                        Joe Biden Lied his Butt off when he talks about Romney wanting to liquidate the auto industry and anyone with an IQ above 10 can smell this BS from a mile away.

                        The House and what Mitt Romney supported and pushed for was a Chapter 11 restructuring, NOT a Chapter 7 liquidation.

                        Read the Bill if you don't believe it. This would have caused concessions from the Unions and GM + Chrysler leadership to get their crap together and make some changes. More importantly it would have-

                        A.) not lost one single job, everyone kept their jobs

                        B.) would not have cost us the american taxpayer one red cent

                        (for those that have never heard of this plan, go figure, the liberal media never told you about it)

                        Instead we got the "Obama" plan which didn't require any concessions, and WE the AMERICAN people were forced to take on close to 1 Trillion in more debt borrowed from China.

                        Think about it for a second if you can: If you have zero money in the bank and want to present a large sum of money to anyone, where do you get it??? You either-

                        A.) print more money

                        B,) borrow it

                        I guess you do not have the brains to research issues on your own rather than just have them shoved down your throat by the lying politicians and left biased media.

                        We as American Citizens would have been MUCH better off if the auto industry were allowed to file for Chapter 11.

                        Still really riles me that the VP of us can lie like that and no one calls him on it. What is really more frustrating is that people believe it because its what they have been told.

                        Actually its hilarious!

                          Reply#117 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 12:43 AM EDT
                          Reply

                          I guess if you tell the same lie enough all the dimwitts will believe it. Either that or Biden is really stupid.

                          • 1 vote
                          Reply#118 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 12:46 AM EDT

                          jaxminst--

                          Every single line you just typed is a lie.

                          Where are you getting your twisted info from?

                          Here?

                          There is not one shred of truth to a single word you typed and is typical.

                          1. No Healthcare for Women, the middle class, minorities and the poor- LIE

                          2. No Social Security, No Medicare or Medicaid- LIE

                          3. No Planned Parenthood- LIE

                          4. Suppress the vote for the poor and minorities-LIE

                          5. Hatred for anyone that disagree with them and especially our current president-LIE

                          6. Lets claim to world that we are christians. (what a joke)- LIE

                          7. We are the party of the KKK/Neo-nazis, but we just wear suits to work everyday- BIGGEST LIE

                          8. Okay to rape women, because they have a way to prevent getting pregnant by the rapist.- LIE

                          9. Women cannot decide for themselves unless we approve including women in our own party. We adore the Taliban, because they know the right way to treat women.- HILARIOUS LIE

                          • 1 vote
                          Reply#120 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 12:49 AM EDT

                          This is all in preparation for the Martian landings in December. Obama is an alien of the third kind.

                            Reply#121 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 12:52 AM EDT

                            Lets take a closer look at the GWB blame game.

                            2000-2006 prosperity by every measure./

                            2007, January the 110th congress with Reid, Pelosi and their gang took charge of Washington.

                            Look at any chart, graph, metric you wish to and that is the exact time the economy tanked.

                            Those facts are indefensible.

                            • 1 vote
                            Reply#122 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 12:56 AM EDT

                            One week the liberal left chastises wall street and the 1 % ers.

                            The next week they proclaim success that the Dow is over 13,000 compared to 7,000 when Obama took over.

                            Which simply means the 1 % ers got richer!!!

                            Talk about hypocrisy, but I suppose if that is your ONLY success you need to trumpet it!!

                            (which oh by the way the dow was at 14000, in December of 2006, remember the 110th congress took charge in January of 2007, reid, pelosi and began its slide to 7,000 the very next month)

                            Hilarious!

                              Reply#123 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 1:02 AM EDT

                              amazing how you odummy people forget that that last years of bush the dumbocrats where in power of the house and the senate. and if you think 5 trillion more debt more lost jobs more companys left here and cramming health care down your throught when he said in 08 he would not force the american people to buy health insurance and more people on welfare and food stamps and more people lost the homes and the list goes on if you think this idiot has done a good job in 4 years you either a idiot or your so dumbocrat with your head up odummys azz you cant see the truth. he has not done one thing good for this country since hes been in office. lies nothing but lies. and lets not forget the he didnt save g m the tax payers got stuck for that bill and HE didnt kill any one and we also got stuck for all the solor crap this idiot did and the fine chevy volt that goes 25 miles on a charge man there a dud makes the edsel look good dont it, go ask your grand dad what a edsel it thats for you young people that thinks odummys a good pres. and last stop blaming bush its 4 years later and it sure as hell aint no better

                              • 2 votes
                              Reply#124 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 1:34 AM EDT

                              businessmen bring jobs not lawyers/career acorn politicians vote out obama, everything obama does cost taxpayers billions if not trillion we can't afford him fu-king this nation any more.

                              • 2 votes
                              Reply#125 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 1:38 AM EDT

                              if obiden and a clue where he was or whats going on in this country it would be amazing, how this dumb bell has been in washington for some 30 years is behond me. i know why odummy wants to keep him on the ticket cause he makes odummy look smart. well kind of no one can make odummy look smart. look its this simple odummy got a job that hes not even close to being qualified for , wasnt and still isnt and never will be, why do you think he has spent more time away from washington then hes spent there in 4 years? because its like hes doing now its every body elses fault not mine i wouldnt there.

                              • 1 vote
                              Reply#126 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 1:43 AM EDT

                              Of course another dumb or stupid democratic statement. 20% or more of America is unemployed or under-employed and they make a statement like this?????? Buy a clue democrats.

                              • 1 vote
                              Reply#127 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 1:48 AM EDT

                              Dumb and Dumber are better off maybe but obama your welfare momma and biden are on the way out and should not let the white house door hit them in the arse on the way out. Put your tennis shoes on, get on your mark set go, get the hell out you couple of idiots, better off now than when they took office, wow I thought those 2 idiots were anti marijuana, turns out they smoke a ton

                              • 2 votes
                              Reply#128 - Tue Sep 4, 2012 2:30 AM EDT
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