Could someone please explain to me…
…why it would be such a great achievement for Obama to be inaugurated as president under economic conditions he himself described as nearly akin to the Great Depression, then rack up unemployment figures that are even higher than that during the entire four years of his presidency, and at the very last minute post unemployment figures that are equal to those from when he took on the job, and consider this trajectory to be a great selling point?
And that’s the case even if you accept September’s figures as correct.
I’m sincerely puzzled. Take a look at this Guardian article (I know; I know; it’s the Guardian). The lede:
The US jobless figures are out today and show American unemployment has taken a drop to 7.8% – below the 8.2% Barack Obama inherited in 2009.
Scroll down to the chart, however, and you’ll see that when Obama was inaugurated in January of 2009 the figure was 7.8. And that information is in the very same article.
This CNN article states that the rate is now the same as when Obama took office.
Bravo! Quite an achievement. The evil mojo of the nefarious Bush takes much more than four years to undo, I guess.
[ADDENDUM: Ed Morrissey delves into the media coverage in 2004 versus today. As one might expect, there’s somewhat of a difference—to say the least.]
Devil’s advocating here: it was bad when he took office, it got worse because of preexisting conditions (and he didnt’t realize how severe those preexisting conditions were), and now it’s recovered back to where things were when he assumed power — but the trajectory is now headed in a positive direction.
All hail our Messiah.
The achievement is a nation and wealth destroying fool being made to look like he’s held things together.
Whenever you want to define ‘spin’, the coverage of the unemployment numbers for this Administration is simply textbook. Add on that when ol’ George was president, unemployment approaching 5% was reported with breathless apoplexy as being an intergalactic crisis of historic proportions. Over 8% for almost all of Preezy Skeezy’s term? {YAWN} Not so much.
Innumeracy straight in your face.
Isn’t this typical of Obama’s entire career? No matter how minimal the performance, it gets hailed as the bestest gosh darn performance ever.
The achievement will have been that yet another political axiom based on the reality of reasonable expectations – “it’s the economy, stupid” will have been made obsolete. The recently made observation that the emperor has no clothes may no longer be an embarrassment but the fashion.
It’s like arguing whether gnomes are smarter than faeries. Unemployment statistics are a mythical creation.
Another sideshow to keep certain elements of the pundit class distracted from more essential issues.
Could someone please explain to me…
Whence we came is where we go?
and
You have to work with what you have not what you want, and Obama is what they have…
“Could someone please explain to me . . . .”
Simple. It was all Bush’s fault.
If O is re-elected…..
If he thought the economy he inherited was bad in 2008, wait till he tries to deal with the economy he’s going to inherit in 2012…!
Here is why:
Wall street and Republicans didn’t want Obama to succeed so they spent their entire time working against him and hurting the American people.
Of course the unemployment numbers are cooked. Hardly anyone is naive enough to believe otherwise. Of course, the economy was being described constantly as bad, through all the Bush years. I remember the minister in my (former) Knee Jerk Liberal Church referring to the terrible economy, as he heard it described in the NYT.
What no one seems ready to tell me is WHAT Bush policies caused this calamity. Which regulations were ignored in the Bush years?
The O’Boy actually referred, in the debate, to the sub-prime mortgages, for which he blamed Bush, when they were actually forced by Clinton-era law, law which a young community organizer in Illinois used to force banks to make these risky loans. Three guesses who that was.
baklava has been hitting the slivovitz, and it’s hitting him back twice as hard.
The unemployment rate dropped by zero POINT three percent and everyone in the media is having a cow over how great that is!
So, instead of 24,000,000 unemployed we now have 23,600,000? (or is my math wrong?)
Isn’t this something that could be explained by the fact that is was September – a lot of companies don’t hire during the summer months (a lot of execs on vacation, etc), but, they do hire for end of year when they have some money left over in budgets that need to be spent or their departments won’t get the same money next year.
“…and you’ll see that when Obama was inaugurated in January of 2009 the figure was 7.8.”
Uhhh, can’t they remember Obama’s constant hew and cry was “Pass the stimulus and I promise unemployment won’t go above 8%!”
(Just one of his promises… Then there’s the one, “If you like the health insurance you have now, you’ll be able to keep it.”
Sure most of us could write a book on all his promises and lies. “Audacious” doesn’t even begin to cover it.
And whaddya know? He’s still lying, everyday, all day on the stump, and besides the whopper he and his Administration told to all of us 2 days after the Ambassador was killed in Libya, the nonstop lies about Romney are breath-taking (not in a good way!) Between Obama and the MSM, it’s the only info a lot of people get! And no one calls him on it — except maybe Sean Hannity — and everyone knows that Hannity is one of those “opinion shows” on Fox.
It’s even more bizarre than you thought, Neo:
Biggest Improvement in Jobs Numbers Comes from Gov’t
Money teaser:
[Dusting off old Lefty cap]
Lessee: Bush and the evil, greedy Republican billionaires, through being greedy and manipulating the stock market and doing all sorts of dastardly stuff with the poor people mortgages, collapsed the whole structure (probably intentionally!).
Our Hero, Leader, and Protector, the Great Obama, is trying, in his nice, professorial, brilliantly communitarian way, to fight against these Forces of Evil. But the Evil Republicans in Congress have obstructed Everything our Hero wants to do! You can’t blame Him for not succeeding.
Still, with mighty effort and superhuman patience, he’s battling back against the Flying Monkeys of the Dark Side, and all he needs is three dollars from us Little People (the Billionaires are all supporting the rich, greedy, exploitative capitalist Republicans) to help finance his genuinely grass-roots People Power movement to TAKE OUR COUNTRY out of the hands of the greedy moneychangers and hurl them out of the temple.
He’s almost there, comrades! Hold fast and fight! Forward into the STRUGGLE!
[doffs redcap]
That’s about it, really. The idiots believe all that bilge, and the Leaders cynically use it to consolidate their Power.
Addendum:
[redcap on]
Any fight against these Racists is a Holy War! every other consideration has to go to the effin’ wall, brother.
[redcap off]
And yes, they do believe all this stuff. So, IF you believe it all, then theirs is a holy crusade, and that justifies all measures in their minds. Lying is a mere bagatelle in such cases.
Most all democrats despise America’s “consumer driven society”. Translation….They despise people free to create jobs to produce what free people say they want.
Let there be no mystery why the jobs picture is dismal when these people are in power. Creative entreprenuership just makes for a more unequal society in terms of outcomes. And they want none of that.
N-Neocon: Lemme see if I can s’plain the answer to your query this way…The ever growing population of societal Moochers-Takers-Leaches-Self Pity Specialists and their Demo bribers and keepers DON’T CARE if the economy sucks. See, they can’t look past that welfare check-food stamp card-disability mooch-delivery each & every month.
Baa-Daa-Bing. Like dat.
BLS cooked the books. After an abysmal debate performance we see July and August conveniently revised upwards (100,000+ combined) and then they mix in a measly 114,000 new jobs in September and this brings down the rate to 7.85%? It does not compute.
I’m a little slow on the uptake, but if I can refer to president Clinton’s less than glowing endorsement of Barry at the DNC it occurs to me that his comment, as usual for slick Willy, can be interpreted in more than one way. Here all along I thought he meant that during the recovery from the “Bush” recession we would have been better off with no president. if that’s what he said then maybe I’ve found a point of agreement with the dissolute b*st*rd.