Not long after Rep. Joe Walsh stated he would not attend the “idiotic” president’s speech, Senator Jim DeMint echoed a similar sentiment. The Tea Party leader from South Carolina dismissed the speech before four days before the President is scheduled to give it.

“I’m, frankly, very tired of speeches. I don’t want to be disrespectful to the president, but what I want to see is something in writing,” the Republican told ABC’s “This Week.” “If he’ll send a written proposal, I’ll give it every chance. But I’m not interested in his speech right now.”

Although Obama’s speech on job creation in front of a joint session of Congress is highly anticipated, the Republicans are already biting back and complaining without knowing what is in the proposal. If you had any doubt that the Republicans have not been playing politics the entire time Obama has been in office, put those doubts away now.

How can you already be against something when you don’t know what the something is? Maybe Obama wants to eliminate corporate taxes completely? How would the Republicans suddenly be against that?

DeMint has voiced his opposition to tax cuts and business tax credits, a remarkable turnaround for a political party that has for decades pushed for exactly that. “The things that have been leaking out of the White House, none of them are like what I’ve been hearing from businesses all over the country,” DeMint said.

“You know, extending unemployment [insurance], cutting payroll taxes, offering tax credits when you hire someone, I haven’t heard one business say things like this.” Rather, DeMint argued, business want the government to oppose unions and eliminate regulations, which he said would create “certainty.”

“What they want is some certainty. They want the regulators off their back. They want the National Labor Relations Board to stop pushing the union agenda and try to help companies that create jobs. So I don’t think the president is going to come out with things that are really going to create jobs,” DeMint said.

A nationwide survey of small business owners by McClatchy, however, found that most small business owners want no such thing.
Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com

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About the author

Erin Chavez
Erin Whitney-Chavez has been writing professionally since 2009. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts from St. Bonaventure University and received a Master of Arts in mental-health counseling from Argosy University. Erin Whitney-Chavez is a licensed mental health counselor and has worked in the mental-health field for more than 10 years.