Palin: U.S. economy is a "sinking ship"
Potential Republican presidential contender Sarah Palin said today that it's "noble" of President Obama to continue leading a sputtering economy, but Americans want to take a different path.
Last week, the Labor Department announced that the unemployment rate hit 9.1 percent in May, and just 54,000 jobs were created last month - far fewer than expected. In response, Mr. Obama said the economy "is taking a while to mend" and faces "bumps on the road to recovery."
On "Fox News Sunday," Palin took issue with that analogy. "The people will tell you it's not a bump in the road," she said. "We've hit a brick wall."
"It's very noble of President Obama to want to stay at the helm and maybe go down with this sinking ship," she continued. "But I prefer, many Americans prefer, that we start plugging the hole, that we start powering the bilge pump and start getting rid of this unsustainable debt that is sinking our ship. We don't have to go the way of the Titanic, and there are things that have to be put in place right now before this ship does sink."
Mulling over "what President Palin would do," the former governor said she would cut the federal budget, cut corporate tax rates, expand domestic energy production and cut regulations "that really quash an entrepreneurial spirit in America and do burden our businesses."
While she said what her policies would be as president, Palin said she was "still right there in the middle" when it comes to deciding whether or not to run for president.
Palin, a paid Fox News contributor, is currently on a nationwide bus tour she said is about " publicizing Americana." She said it hasn't changed her mind about a possible presidential bid.
"But the response that I received along the trail, my family and I, from 'We the people,' from people saying, please, somebody has got to be honest with the public and let Americans understand where our country is headed," she said. "Whether it's me - throwing my name in the hat or just supporting the right candidate, the response has been great confirmation of the need for real positive change in this country."
She added, "I haven't interpreted it as being about me, about being me as a candidate or a potential candidate. It's been about the message."
On Friday, Palin told Fox's Sean Hannity that the Republican Party needs to do a better job of listening to its constituents and to the message of the Tea Party.
"Too many in the GOP are still resistant and resisting the movement of this new crop of common sense conservatives," she said. "If they not careful there will be new third party will rise up, just like in day when the Whigs finally went away and Republicans rose up."
Last week, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean warned that Palin could beat Mr. Obama in the 2012 elections if the economy doesn't improve.
"I think she could win," Dean told The Hill Friday. "Any time you have a contest - particularly when unemployment is as high as it is - nobody gets a walkover."
