Yesterday, President Obama held a press conference in which he recited the same tired litany of rationalizations that he always gives. After President Obama’s snoozer, House GOP Leader John Boehner used the opportunity to contrast President Obama’s fiscally irresponsible plan with the House GOP’s plan to re-invigorate the economy:

Our nation has lost nearly three million jobs this year, yet the President did not lay out a clear path for how his Administration will keep its promise to create jobs for middle-class families and small businesses. House Republicans have offered better solutions to create jobs, control spending, and curb the debt. Unfortunately, Democrats have taken a go-it-alone approach, choosing old-style Washington politics over the new way Americans expected after the last election.

Today the President again claimed that the Democrats’ government takeover of health care would not force Americans off of their current plans, yet independent analysts have reported that at least 23 million Americans would lose their coverage under the bill drafted by Senate Democrats. House Republicans have introduced a better alternative to make health care more affordable and accessible, ensure that Americans can keep their health plan, and keep doctors and patients, not government bureaucrats, in charge of critical and personal medical decisions.

It is unfortunate, at a time when millions of Americans are struggling in today’s economy, that the President would continue to support a national energy tax that will ship millions of American jobs overseas and force Americans to pay energy costs that he has acknowledged will ‘skyrocket.’ The House GOP’s ‘all of the above’ energy plan will create more jobs, lower energy costs, and clean up our air and water.

The President continues to underscore the need for all stakeholders to have a seat at the table as we craft key reforms in Washington. I hope Democrats in Congress hear that message and work with Republicans to expand affordable health care, forge a cleaner and more reliable energy future, and create more jobs for middle-class families and small businesses.

Ed Morrissey has a devastating live blog account of President Obama’s presser. Here’s one of Ed’s best zingers:

13:02 - Tapper notes Obama’s “Spock-like” answer on the public plan, and challenges him on employer retreat on private plans. Instead of answering, Obama first asks Tapper if he’s making fun of his ears with the Spock reference. Obama says that a public plan that “feeds at the public trough” would do that, but that a public plan can deliver better administrative performance. Er, then please explain Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA.

Here’s Ed’s best zinger:

13:13 - Do we need a second stimulus package? “Not yet…we need to see how effective the first stimulus will be.” Obama also says that no one predicted how bad the economy would tank, but in fact, many people did, and said that big-government programs wouldn’t help in any case.

BINGO on all counts. There wasn’t a shortage of people who predicted that the stimulus bill wouldn’t provide a jolt to the economy. At one point, I ridiculed it by saying that it was more honest to call it PAPA, aka the Political Allies Payoff Act.

Economists weren’t the only people predicting ARRA’s failure, though it’s fair to say that none of the people predicting ARRA’s failure were Obama apologists.

The Obama administration can’t afford another stimulus bill from a PR standpoint. Passing another stimulus bill would be an admission that their policies have completely failed. It’s the political equivalent of throwing one’s hands up in the air and yelling. People would notice that admission. They wouldn’t think Hopenchange at that point. They’d be thinking panic and anger; panic over what direction the country is heading in and anger for having been duped by a smooth-talking lightweight.

Technorati: Economy, Stimulus Package, Health Care, Reform, Medicare, Medicaid, President Obama, Press Conference, Democrats, John Boehner, Positive Agenda, Republicans

Cross-posted at California Conservative