The Latest Economic Downturn Was Not Inherited, it is President Obama’s Fault
President Obama is fond of reminding us that he inherited the economic mess that we are currently in. He is correct, to a point. The economy was headed downward when he took office, there is no doubt about that. But there comes a time when you can no longer deflect blame for what is going on around you and now is that time in regards to Obama and the economy.
President Obama has spent his first six weeks in office passing legislation that is supposed to help our faltering economy so what has happened since he took office? The stock market has fallen 3000 points. This amid all of the policies that the president has put in place. One has to begin to wonder how much of the current decline is do to Obama’s policies, and that is what this article does.
As 2009 opened, three weeks before Barack Obama took office, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 9034 on January 2, its highest level since the autumn panic. Yesterday the Dow fell another 4.24% to 6763, for an overall decline of 25% in two months and to its lowest level since 1997. The dismaying message here is that President Obama’s policies have become part of the economy’s problem.
But after five weeks in office, it’s become clear that Mr. Obama’s policies are slowing, if not stopping, what would otherwise be the normal process of economic recovery.
I have written that I believed once the stimulus bill passed President Obama had taken ownership of the economy. Whatever past problems drove the stock market down were just that, the past. President Obama’s stimulus was so damned important to the economy that no delay was acceptable, remember? We had to pass his stimulus bill or the economy would never recover, yet what has happened since the stimulus bill was passed? The economy just continued to fall, that is all that has happened.
If the stimulus bill failed to have its desired effect, and in fact had the opposite effect, to continue to blame Bush for the still falling economy is disingenuous to say the least. The market reacts to all of this president’s words and actions and so far his policies have had a negative effect on the stock markets. This goes beyond just the stimulus bill, there is TARP II, and the mortgage bailout plan, and the new budget with tax increases. All of these plans are designed to save the economy and yet it gets worse every day.
President Obama may have inherited a recession but he owns it now. It is time to stop deflecting the blame. President Obama’s policies have hurt the economy and he can’t blame Bush for that any longer. It is time for him to look in the mirror and realize that he is responsible for the continuation of the economic downturn.
Much like FDR’s New Deal slowed down the recovery from the depression Obama’s policies are slowing down the current recovery. I just hope his policies don’t lead us into a depression.
America's Watchtower 
I said they would use George Bush as a built in excuse. My answer is, if you couldn’t do the job, why did you apply?
LikeLike
He knew what he was getting into when he took the job, it is time for him to stop whining and do something. How long will the “it’s Bush’s fault” argument be used do you think?
LikeLike
Probably as long as conservatives have used it’s Clinton’s fault to excuse Bush’s incompetence.
Going by the logic here, 9-11 was entirely Bush’s fault, Enron scandles was entirely Bush’s fault, and Dot-Bomb was entirely Bush’s fault. These events happened after the first month that Bush was in office.
So was the sudden and sharp drop back in September/October the result of Obama’s policies?
LikeLike
Not his policies, but as the likelyhood of his election became more probable I do think the market reacted to what they feared he was going to do. And they are continuing to react. Wall Street has voted on Obama and they do not like what they see.
LikeLike
No, the market reacted to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns. It only stabilized when Paulson and Bernake started handing out cash like no tomorrow.
The cash is almost gone and, contrary to Bernake says, we have at least two zombie banks and GM is probably dead.
I would say that even if it was a true conservative at the helm, you know one that practices free market principles, the market would still be dropping. They are looking for the government to socialize their losses.
PS: thumbs down on the new template
LikeLike
“Much like FDR’s New Deal slowed down the recovery from the depression Obama’s policies are slowing down the current recovery.”
Might want to check again… FDR’s New Deal caused that depression in the FIRST place!
LikeLike
I was trying to be kind. 🙂
LikeLike
There are FIVE stages of dying. Pay attention to step number one and two and tell me if they sound familar.
DENIAL: I’m not ready to die (is anyone ever really ready?). You don’t just get up some morning and say, “Well, I’m ready to die today”. Predictions of imminent death can do several things. . The shock begins to ebb as you come to grips with approaching death.
ANGER: Suddenly you are not in control of your life, or death. You have no choice……you are going to die. You have always known this, no one has come out and stated it as a fact before. It makes you angry, you feel so helpless especially at first, then guilt climbs upon your back Anger is directed at everyone and no one in particular. It is a sense of loss of control which is likely not a new feeling if you have endured a long illness. It is normal. Anger is in its own, a sense of strength. It can also be debilitating.
BARGAINING: You are willing now to compromise. No use denying it, anger comes and goes so perhaps you can make a deal with God! You are willing to promise to do or not to do specific things if only you can be given more time. It can be based on an upcoming event that is important to you. You can be suffering from insecurities regarding a member of your family or a loved one who you feel is yet dependent on you. There can be a rift that has never been eliminated that needs to be further addressed. You are not free to go until these reasons can be alleviated once and for all. You are hoping yet and eager to deal!
DEPRESSION: This is such a normal part of the process of preparing to die. You are already depressed about your incapability’s in dealing with responsibility, projects and the situation of every day life. Symptoms of terminal illness are impossible to ignore. You are fully aware that death is inevitable. Aware, angry and filled with sorrow and here again the culprit of guilt sneaks in as you mourn for yourself and the pain that this is causing you family and loved ones. Another totally NORMAL phase.
ACCEPTANCE: This comes after you work though the numerous conflicts and feelings that death brings. You can succumb to the inevitable as you become more tired and weakness hangs on. You become less emotional, calmness arrives and banishes fear along with joy or sadness. You realize the battle is almost over and now it’s really alright for you to die.
LikeLike
If Obama did plan to get re-elected on the ” I need more time to fix the economy” premise, then I think it is backfiring on him already. Wall Street really, really does not like him. That’s how it appears, anyway. I swear, does he really think he can just do whatever he wants and figure out how to explain it after the fact? I “hope” this is not the case.
LikeLike
Wall Street does not like him or his policies, that is evident by the way the stock market drops every time he opens his mouth. Ne really does appear to be winging it.
LikeLike
I disagree with previous “thumbs down” comment. I like it! It looks cool. It is sort of like Michelle Malkin’s, which I find interesting and pleasing to the eye.
LikeLike
I should have been more clear with why I don’t like it. I am seeing rendering errors on my end with nested comments. When I was replying part of the text box was under the blog roll. Now that I think about it, it might not be a problem with the template but with wordpress.
LikeLike
I totally missed Terrant’s thumbs down comment. I really didn’t like the green page tabs that the other template had above the header, I like this template much better. I just wish I could make the title text smaller.
I see what you are talking about Terrant, your comment doesn’t appear properly. I am not sure if it is just this template or WordPress’ new threading feature that is the problem. I think it is probably WordPress. I think that once you get to the third layer of comments something goes wrong, I am goint to cut the layers of comments back to two.
LikeLike
That seems to have corrected the problem, but it has screwed up the order of the comments in this post.
LikeLike