Last week President Obama made a game-changing gaffe in declaring “the private sector is doing fine.” This came as quite a surprise to those actually in the private sector – including our country’s job creators, small business owners – who continue to struggle under the weight of government regulation and taxation.  

Following his initial declaration on Friday morning, Obama tried to wash away the “out of touch” stink left on him, but seemed to insert his foot farther into his mouth, saying in a follow up media availability later that day:

“The folks who are hurting, where we have problems and where we can do even better, is small businesses that are having a tough time getting financing; we’ve seen teachers and police officers and firefighters who’ve been laid off — all of which, by the way, when they get laid off spend less money buying goods and going to restaurants and contributing to additional economic growth. The construction industry is still very weak, and that’s one of the areas where we’ve still seen job losses instead of job gains.”  

As we noted on Friday, the greatest hindrance to the private sector is the regulatory environment enacted by President Obama. Sadly, our Peter Pan President, who won’t grow up and take responsibility for his economy, points – as usual – to the public union employees who have been laid off, as if to say, “if only the federal, state, and local governments had been given more money.”  

Dana Perino, former Bush press secretary, perhaps summed it up best when she said on Fox News:  

“When you are hanging out with celebrities and hedge fund managers who are getting millions and millions over the past few months, you do think they’re doing fine.  If a President of the United States three hours later has to say, ‘I was perfectly clear,’ you’re not perfectly clear.’”  

What is perfectly clear is that Obama’s true opinion of the private sector keeps peeking out from under his skirt hem. Like McCain in 2008, will this economic gaffe (after a week of gaffes on the economy) be President Obama’s Waterloo?

(Photo Credit: Tessa Tessa)