Sarah Palin Rips Barack Obama on His Economic Policy

By Leo Standora
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sarah Palin said "we told ya so" to President Obama on Monday night, claiming his spending polices to revive the economy were leading America to socialism.

"When you consider that the federal government is about $11 trillion in debt, and we're borrowing more to spend more ... it defies any sensible economic policy any of us ever learned through college," the former Republican vice presidential candidate told Sean Hannity in a Fox News interview.

"It defies economy practices and principles that tell ya 'you gotta quit digging that hole when you are in that financial hole.'"

Her comments came as the White House acknowledged it has spent only $44 billion, or 5 percent, of the $787 billion stimulus so far - a total that has always been expected to rise sharply this summer.

Palin, the governor of Alaska and one of the most popular elected Republican officials, went on to rail against the government takeover of the auto industry.

"We're borrowing from China and we consider that now we own 60% of General Motors - or the U.S. government does… But who is the U.S. government becoming more indebted to? It's China. So that leads you to have to ask who is really going to own our car industry than in America."

After a little prompting from Hannity, Palin then made the "I told ya" so comment.

Asked if America was headed toward "socialism," Palin replied "If we keep going down these roads nationalizing many of our services, our projects, our businesses, yes that's where we would head."

But she acknowledge that during the campaign "maybe we didn't have a good way of expressing that, or articulating that message."

At one point Palin described Obama as "a very nice man," but warned voters to "pay attention to his policies."

She was more effusive about her visit here last weekend.

"It was spectacular," she gushed, "seeing all those happy faces in New York."

Palin spent part of the interview repeating the Republican mantra: more off-shore drilling, less government and a lot less spending.

She defended her veto of $28.56 million in federal energy aid on the grounds that it would have committed her to advocating energy efficiency and adoption of building codes in Alaska communities. She said she did accept money for infrastructure projects.

Alaskan legislators are deciding whether to override Palin's veto.

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