Because democrats are sore losers and don’t understand that not everyone agrees with them about everything President George W. Bush had a curious beginning to his administration. Before he was even inaugurated the new President was described as a failure. liberal conventional wisdom crafted the myth of an illegitimate President who was destroying the work of hero Bill Clinton and was hurting the disadvantaged for the benefit of heartless corporations. Myths and a barrage of hateful statements were heaved at President Bush constantly every moment he was in office. And he never complained. He gracefully accepted the responsibilities of the position that he had campaigned for and rightfully earned by the vote of his fellow citizens. This demeanor is what endeared the former President to many, even those who at times disagreed with his positions.
In the latest version of ESPN the magazine is a story containing statements from various athletes about anything at all. Former NFL wide receiver Jerry Rice takes his space to first mention that he does not like to comment on politics and then regurgitates the liberal conventional wisdom that everything deficient in our country today is unequivocally the responsibility of former President Bush and that President Obama has done nothing to be responsible for it and should be given a chance because he is doing everything that he can to steer us all in the right direction and that things under former President Bush were so bad that it will take a very long time to correct. Normally this claptrap could be dismissed as ignorance from a former professional athlete but this line is conventional wisdom to many and is expressed by President Obama often and parroted by many straight news stories as if it were undeniable truth.
There is no doubt that economic circumstances were unfavorable when President Obama assumed office, however, he campaigned on his ability to make things better almost instantly. The entire premise of “Hope and Change” rested on the premise of President Obama as a redemptive, all-knowing oracle-like figure who would save the soul of our country and propel our economy to heights unknown. Two and a half years later the country’s economy is worse than it was when President Obama was inaugurated. Unemployment is lower than promised by the President as a result of the stimulus and has sustained a high rate longer than ever before. The time in which the unemployed remain that way is the longest in United States history. GDP is lower today than in 2007. Tax receipts as a portion of GDP are 4 percentage points lower than the historical average. This year’s single deficit is the largest in history and greater than the first four years of the prior administration combined. Since the current President was inaugurated the nation debt has grown by more than 4.5 trillion dollars, an amount greater than the combined deficits of the previous administration.
There is no empirical or inferential way to prove that anything done today is the result of the policies of former President Bush. The wars in Iraq in Afghanistan were started under the previous administration, but, they were authorized by congress and their costs have decreased in recent years. Anything else, such as the Medicare prescription drug benefit, no child left behind and the Department of Homeland Security could have been cut by the President with both houses of congress being democrat his first two years in office but he did not. Additionally the largest deficits occurred during the last administration following the 2006 elections when both houses of congress, and therefore budgetary authority, switched to democrat control.
But never mind. Eight years of transforming George W. Bush into some kind of mythical demon worked and no amount of inferential statistics on the economy, empirical economic numbers, the average unemployment rate in the eight years of the Bush administration (5.2%) can change a conventional wisdom that is completely made up. So long as it holds President Obama will never have to be responsible for any policies. The President and his acolytes are too simply too blinded by talking points and too lazy to do the hard work of analyzing the real numbers. And they will never tell anyone when President Obama is actually responsible so long as President Bush can be blamed. President Bush will be treated kindly by history because it’s impossible to hide reality for too long and the conventional wisdom will eventually unravel. Unfortunately it may be too late to help more people understand the irresponsible fiscal policies of President Obama and democrat legislators.
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