RSS Feed MenuJohn Steele Gordon at the Commentary blog directs attention to this horrifying graphic showing the pace of job loss since 2004.
Where Gordon goes wrong, I think, is saying that this chart proves Obama is doomed in 2012.
Ronald Reagan won the White House by asking, over and over, the simple question “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” With the new technology of animated graphs, it is now possible to pound the answer home as never before.
Obama does not have to face the Reagan question until November 2012. And since November 2008 was the worst economic month since perhaps 1938, he should not have too much trouble demonstrating that, yes, we are better off than we were four years ago.
ottovbvs // Oct 17, 2009 at 10:16 am
…….Er…….is Mr Gordon missing somenthing here……who was president from 2004 to January 2008?……Obama or George Bush…….. He’s right about one thing though……these animated graphs are enormously effective at confirming this fact
gunnarslamm // Oct 17, 2009 at 12:21 pm
If you observe the graphic, you will also notice that the crap didn’t hit the fan until after the statists took over congress from the democrat “lite”, McCain moderates, (Friends of Frum= FOF) RINO’s who were in office. This is part of the plan to “remake” our nation and destroy it from the inside. True conservatism, unlike the crap that Frum pushes, will win EVERY TIME it is tried.
sinz54 // Oct 17, 2009 at 12:46 pm
The question looking forward is whether the Dems will be blamed for failing to reduce unemployment significantly, as they had promised the stimulus package would do:
http://tinypic.com/r/j81tus/4
My guess is no.
The American people have more common sense than the elites give them credit for. They know not to expect instant miracles with an economy as big as ours, that fell into a hole as big as it did. They know to be patient.
History lesson: During the first term of the Reagan administration, unemployment rose for the first two years, peaking in 1982. And yes, the voters gave him a wake-up call by giving the Dems significant gains in the 1982 Congressional elections. But by 1984, it was clear the economy was recovering nicely, and unemployment was declining nicely–and Reagan was re-elected.
So I predict the same thing will happen with Obama. The Dems are going to take a loss in the 2010 congressional elections (though Pelosi may hang on to a slim Dem majority). But if by 2012, the economy is in fairly decent shape, Obama will be re-elected.
That’s why it’s so important for the GOP to go all-out this year rather than hoping they can defeat Obama in 2012. Obama probably will win a second term, unless the economy is stilll in rotten shape in 2012.
But if the GOP can score big gains in the 2010 Congressional elections, they can stop Obama’s agenda cold.
sinz54 // Oct 17, 2009 at 12:52 pm
gunnarslam:
It’s important for us conservatives to not be baited.
You can expect that every time Obama makes a mistake, every time there’s a problem with Iran or the economy or anything else, Obama’s defenders will try to change the subject and employ the “tu quoque” fallacy: “Well, Bush started it.” [Note: We didn't elect Obama to whine about the mess Bush left him with. We elected him to solve America's problems, not whine about them.]
But if we keep reflexively defending Bush every time he’s criticized, we will be playing into the liberals’ hands by deflecting every discussion of Obama into a history lesson about Bush.
The next time some liberal brings up Bush, remind him that Obama is President now–if he can’t handle the mess he walked into, he should resign.
And stop defending Bush already! He’s a private citizen and the public has made its judgment about him: They’re glad to see him go.
Let Bush go.
Don’t be baited by the liberals!
They know they’re having increasing difficulty defending Obama’s track record, so they would rather change the subject to Bush.
Don’t let them get away with it!
SFTor1 // Oct 17, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Gunnarslamm:
True delusion. Spectacular delusion. Well done sir.
To look oneself in the eye and brazenly ignore the lessons of the last eight years is a feat. Here is the point: we are not at a juncture where the economy was destroyed by some sort of Keynesian overregulation and government meddling. This is not
Our problem today consists of an economy dominated by several oligarchies (defense, health insurance, and finance), which have dramatically destabilized it and diverted large amounts of wealth to a few individuals—less than one tenth of a percent of a population, which have become obscenely rich. The American middle class has lost large parts of its spending power and integrity.
Our second problem is that we are in deep debt, and the only way to address it is to revitalize the economy so it can begin making the money we need to pay it down. Universal health care and an education initiative are steps in the right direction, but much more must be done.
Our third problem is the two relict wars we are fighting. They pose several intractable problems, the obvious ones being draining the Treasury and sending us a steady stream of very sick, wounded, and economically and socially expensive veterans.
In the end this has nothing to with Democrats or Republicans. These are national challenges that a traditional political ideology has little to power to address.
We really need to reset our political power structure, and remove the power of special interest money from the political process. These are critical issues. If they are not addressed we will have done this country a degree of injury that it may not recover from.
We need a trustbuster like Teddy. If it isn’t Obama, fine. He will be a stepping stone towards the leader and the party that can break the oligarchies, reset American foreign policy, and rebuild the economy.
But first, the oligarchies must be broken.
spikeytx86 // Oct 17, 2009 at 4:46 pm
gunnarslam!
“True conservatism, unlike the crap that Frum pushes, will win EVERY TIME it is tried”
And once it inevitably doesn’t solve all the problems in the world since it is a man made ideology you will just declare the followers as heretics and “RINOS” and then repeat the above phrase.
Rinse and repeat.
My God the far right are basically the flip side of the same coin that the Far Left is on.
“Well the soviet union wasn’t REAL socialism. No one has ever executed it properly. But leave it to us though and we will institute heaven on earth!”
How is this idiocy that is often parroted by far left Marxist apologists any different then your screed?
BoolaBoola // Oct 17, 2009 at 11:44 pm
I think the voters will remember who caused this mess (the “right man”), for a long time.
If anyone asks the voters “are you better off”, they will answer: “No, four years is too short to fix the problems which GW Cokehead-Burnout Bush left us with”.
Dblade // Oct 18, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Wow, that is horrifying. I was wondering what all the fuss was till it hit 2008 or so and the screen exploded in red.
I think David you are too glib in dismissing it. What voters will remember is how Obama handled this, and if he doesn’t at least hold off the red dot invasion there voters will elect anyone in the same way they elected him, as a protest against what they see as failed policy. It won’t matter if one month in 2008 was bad and others were slightly better, there needs to be marked improvement to show that he actually works to fix it enough to be re-elected. Can you imagine though what would happen if it got worse through bad policy decisions?