Len Bilén's blog

“We tried our plan: It’s No child left a dime;

Sold weapons to terrorists; increasing crime.

We squandered some trillions

And rules costing billions,

For I am a part of Chicago’s worst slime.”

Discussing his economic policies at a fundraiser in Oakland, California, July 23, President Obama, told supporters that “we tried our plan — and it worked.”

“We tried that and it didn’t work,” Obama said of Mitt Romney’s proposed tax cuts and spending cuts, which he dismissed as a Bush-style “top down” economic policy. “Just like we’ve tried their plan, we tried our plan — and it worked,” he added later in the speech. “That’s the difference. That’s the choice in this election. That’s why I’m running for a second term.”

Obama made these comments in Oakland, where the unemployment rate was 13.7 percent in May 2012. The national unemployment rate is 8.2 percent — up from 8.1 percent in May — for the second straight month.