@dragonfly9 Thank you for posting the second, original video that exposes how Trump’s edited video promotes an outright lie. It is a lie because because it makes it appear as if Obama is saying exactly the opposite of what his actual point is.
Trump’s edited video falsely paints Obama as a pessimist. It appears as if Obama is saying it’s impossible to bring back all the jobs we lost during the great recession. However, when you watch the original, unedited version, you see that Obama is not referring to all the jobs; he’s only referring to a particular category of jobs: the jobs that have now become obsolete.
Further, Obama goes on to talk about how we need to help people with retraining so that they can get new jobs in new, growing industries. I’m paraphrasing here, but this is 100% the gist of his remarks. The original video demonstrates that Obama is the opposite of defeatist (as the Trump video attempts to portray him). Obama is showing strength, leadership and vision. As some jobs inevitably become obsolete, he is planning a path to new jobs that will maintain earning power into the future.
Here’s a great example of what Obama was driving at – and it has to do with a longtime interest of mine: I like old typewriters. I don’t actively collect them, but I do have three beautiful, antique models that I occasionally fish out of the deep recesses of my closet in order to admire the craftsmanship and mechanical ingenuity they represent.
From the late 1800’s and well into the 1900’s the U.S. was the typewriter manufacturing capital of the world. Thousands and thousands of Americans were employed making typewriters. Where are all those jobs today? They’re gone forever – and it would have been foolish and counterproductive for the government to protect those jobs. As a way of providing employment opportunities in today’s marketplace, should we bring back typewriter manufacturing through massive government subsidies? – that would, of course, be absurd.
This illustrates the economic issue that Obama was thoughtfully addressing in the original video (and that Trump then distorted into a propaganda lie). It is an issue that Trump has largely chosen ignore – particularly in the area of energy production. We could become the world leader in the design, development, and manufacture of green energy technologies, but instead of focusing on these new, burgeoning industries, Trump is shoring up obsolete energy technologies.
It’s clear that if Trump had been in the White House in the 1960’s, he would have vigorously protected typewriter manufacturing jobs. And he would have discouraged the fledgling U.S. computer industry because it was making these new “wordprocessor thingies” that would have harmed the typewriter industry. If that had happened, where would we be today?
