In 1992 Bill Clinton’s campaign was built around the phrase “It’s the economy, stupid.” That’s what voters cared about. Bush One’s failure in that realm was what got Clinton elected.
In 1993 the newly elected President Clinton came into office and focused on health care reform. His efforts there flopped, and the rest of his presidency pretty much flopped as well.
Which brings us to 2008. Candidate Obama largely got elected on Bush Two’s economic bungling. People wanted economic “change,” which was what Obama was peddling in 2008. They didn’t care about GDP growth. They wanted jobs, a secure home, a fairer distribution of national wealth.
Obama got elected and immediately in 2009 focused his presidency on health care reform. The way Clinton did, rather than focusing on improving the economy. Obama has kept Bush Two’s economic policies largely intact, bolstering big banks and Wall Street while unemployment soars, foreclosures soar, and food pantries proliferate and increasingly must feed the working poor as well as the indigent elderly and disabled.
The Clinton years, with all their many missed opportunities, at least generated a short-lived number of federal budget surpluses. The spectacular failure of Obamanomics has not only not bettered most Americans economic well being, it has indebted the country in a truly frightening way. An administration in Washington mesmerized by GDP growth is seemingly oblivious to the fact that growth itself is not important — what is important is how any added wealth is spread among the population. Oh, and by the way, the present GDP “growth” is not even growth at all, it’s simply treating extra money created by government borrowing and printing funneled to banks and Wall Street as if it were actually new assets.
Will we finally get real health care reform in this country? I hope so. I really do. But Mr President, it’s the economy! It’s always the economy! Always! And if the geniuses you’ve surrounded yourself with don’t understood that “the economy” that matters is not an economist GDP economy that benefits a few bozos on Wall Street, they are not just foolish but dangerous. They are also threatening your presidency and your legacy.