Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell says that “by any measure, Barack Obama has been a disaster for our country.” He might want to read Forbes (“the capitalist tool”).
Forbes contributor Adam Hartung notes that the stock market has done terrifically well under Barack Obama (better, I believe, than under any other president, actually), but acknowledges that job growth may be a better measure of success in real people’s lives. And so he quotes Bob Deitrich:
. . .President Ronald Reagan has long been considered the best modern economic President. So we compared his performance dealing with the oil-induced recession of the 1980s with that of President Obama and his performance during this ‘Great Recession.’
As this unemployment chart shows, President Obama’s job creation kept unemployment from peaking at as high a level as President Reagan, and promoted people into the workforce faster than President Reagan.
President Obama has achieved a 6.1% unemployment rate in his 6th year, fully one year faster than President Reagan did. At this point in his presidency, President Reagan was still struggling with 7.1% unemployment, and he did not reach into the mid-low 6% range for another full year. So, despite today’s number, the Obama administration has still done considerably better at job creating and reducing unemployment than did the Reagan administration.
We forecast unemployment will fall to around 5.4% by summer, 2015. A rate President Reagan was unable to achieve during his two terms.
It’s worth reading the whole piece (which deals, as well, with the issue of the labor participation rate and underemployment). It concludes: “Economically, President Obama’s administration has outperformed President Reagan’s in all commonly watched categories. Simultaneously the current administration has reduced the deficit, which skyrocketed under Reagan.”
And yet Mitch McConnell, in prepared remarks, says that “by any standard, Barack Obama has been a disaster for our country.” Why would anyone want him running the Senate? A plea to my Republican friends: November 4, at least stay home.
FRED ASTAIRE
“Can’t act. Can’t sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.” — Louis B. Mayer’s assessment after watching Fed Astaire’s MGM screen test. Click here. (Thanks, Mel.) Or, of course, if it looks like rain, click here. “Too short,” Mayer said of Gene Kelly. “I see no motion picture potential in Kelly,” agreed a studio exec.
