The older we get, the more jaded we become when it comes to party-line toeing apologists for our nation’s two largest political parties. It inevitably comes down to, “We’re right, they’re wrong, blah blah blah.” Perhaps the only other thing that’s dumber is the Republican civil war in which a group of tightly-wound, ideologically-bound people view anyone who don’t adhere to the orthodoxy as “not Republican.” But, we digress. Back to the matter at hand.
Today, as has been widely reported, national unemployment numbers topped 10 percent for the first time in 26 years. All year, the nation’s sagging economy has been laid at the feet of President Barack Obama by conservatives. The disorganized liberal base points the finger at former President George W. Bush and GOP congressional leadership. But, hey, what about 1983? Will the same conservatives attacking Obama say that the sainted Reagan should be blamed for the conditions of ‘83, when he’d been president for over two years, or will they look further back to Carter? At the same time, will liberals give Carter a total pass and unload on Reagan?
It’s nuts. In reality, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Barack Obama get way too much credit, pro and con, for the economy — it’s the same with every president. OPEC’s oil embargo was a more than significant contributor to the economic problems of the ’70s and early ’80s. Historians have written that Richard Nixon probably wouldn’t have been impeached if the economy was doing better. It’s why Carter beat Gerry Ford, and a major reason of why Carter wasn’t reelected. We have our own reasons to dislike Reagan. While he was making sure the rich got richer, our parents, with college degrees, couldn’t find work for a decent amount of time during that ‘83 slump. Then there were the S&L scandals, bailouts, &c. that sent our family around the South and us to six different elementary schools in five states. Again, digressing.
The point is, with the exception of starting wars without declaring a state of war, executive orders and general directives to agency heads, the president can’t have that much impact in a short amount of time. If a Republican was in the White House right now, Democrats would be losing their heads over the unemployment rate, burning up DailyKos‘ bandwidth and the like. And so, Republicans are going to rip on Obama. But, it’s all so much bullshit.
There is such a thing as the business cycle. Maybe you’ve heard of it. Since the Depression, the government has done an OK job of managing the system to where the peaks and valleys aren’t that extreme. However, there are no short-term solutions, and any solution won’t come out fully-birthed with a donkey or an elephant emblazoned on it.
