“By Any Standard A Disaster” August 5, 2014August 12, 2014 Did you see Mitch McConnell’s speech over the weekend? He’s in a tight race to hold onto his Senate seat. “By any standard,” he said, “Barack Obama has been a disaster for our country.” Here are some standards: STOCKS: The Dow has doubled on Barack Obama’s watch — a disaster for our country. PROFITS: Corporate profits are at record highs — a disaster for our country. JOBS: Private sector employment has grown for 53 months straight, 9.9 million net new jobs, the longest streak in history — a disaster for our country. DEBT: The $1.5 trillion deficit Bush handed Obama has been cut by two-thirds (“So Whatever Happened to the Deficit?“) and thus our National Debt is once again growing slower than the economy — a disaster for our country. HEALTH: The rate of health care cost increase has slowed and millions more people have access to it — a disaster for our country. ENERGY: The percentage of oil we import hasn’t been this low in 40 years — a disaster for our country. EQUALITY: The lives of millions of LGBT Americans and their families have been significantly improved at zero cost to the taxpayers — a disaster for our country. WARS: Ended two, avoided several others — a disaster for our country. HOMELAND SECURITY: Killed Bin Laden; no 9/11 sequels — a disaster for our country. To Mitch McConnell, by any standard — including these — the President has been a disaster for our country. (It’s true of course that our infrastructure is in terrible need of repair and our economy weaker than it should be — to take two big examples of places we could be doing better — but that’s because the Republicans have blocked, among so much else, The American Jobs Act . . . the higher minimum wage . . . and the immigration reform economists agree would boost the economy. Likewise, climate change: we should be further along in leading the world’s response. Guess why we’re not.) What does it say about today’s Republican leaders that we’re barely surprised any more when they routinely say important things that are simply not true? It is simply not true that “by any standard, Barack Obama has been a disaster for our country.” It was simply not true that “by far the vast majority of [Governor Bush’s proposed tax cuts, if elected President] would go to people at the bottom of the economic ladder.” Or that the decision to attack and occupy Iraq was taken as a “last resort.” This should matter to people more than it does. As should the fact that the equivalent is not the case on the Democratic side.