Obama: Stimulus Success Has Made Critics Eat Their Words

In a speech marking the five-year anniversary of his $831 billion economic stimulus plan, President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that his plan, passed one month into his presidency, succeeded and that his critics were proven wrong and “have had to eat those words.”

Obama also touted his auto bailout and green energy initiatives as major successes. 

“Anybody who had dire predictions for the auto industry and said, ‘We couldn’t do it. Manufacturers couldn’t bring jobs back to America.’ Every time they say that, they are proven wrong,” said Obama. 

Obama added, “Anybody who says we can’t compete when it comes to clean energy technologies like solar and wind, they have had to eat those words.” 

The auto bailout cost American taxpayers $10 billion, which General Motors CEO Dan Akerson says GM should not have to pay back. 

A full 80% of Obama’s $20.5 billion Department of Energy green energy loans were funneled to Obama’s top campaign donors and cronies, like Obama bundler George Kaiser, owner of the now defunct Solyndra. 

Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) blasted the Obama stimulus plan on its five-year anniversary. 

“Five years later, our economy is still sluggish, Americans are dropping out of the workforce by the thousands, and the President’s latest big government experiment, Obamacare, is now on track to slash 2 million more jobs from the workforce,” said Cornyn. 

The labor force participation rate five years ago stood at 65.8%. Today it has fallen to 63%. 

In January 2009, 31.9 million Americans were on food stamps. Today, five years after Obama’s $831 billion stimulus, 47 million people receive food stamps. 

Under President Barack Obama, the United States debt has increased $6,666,142,606,010.53, according to the latest figures from the Treasury Department.