Leading conservative economist Bruce Bartlett: The GOP's Misplaced Rage

[kristopher]

The GOP's Misplaced Rage

Barack Obama, George Bush AP Photo; Getty Images Leading conservative economist Bruce Bartlett writes that the Obama-hating town-hall mobs have it wrong—the person they should be angry with left the White House seven months ago.

Where is the evidence that everything would be better if Republicans were in charge? Does anyone believe the economy would be growing faster or that unemployment would be lower today if John McCain had won the election? I know of no economist who holds that view. The economy is like an ocean liner that turns only very slowly. The gross domestic product and the level of employment would be pretty much the same today under any conceivable set of policies enacted since Barack Obama’s inauguration.

In January, the Congressional Budget Office projected a deficit this year of $1.2 trillion before Obama took office, with no estimate for actions he might take. To a large extent, the CBO’s estimate simply represented the $482 billion deficit projected by the Bush administration in last summer’s budget review, plus the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, which George W. Bush rammed through Congress in September over strenuous conservative objections. Thus the vast bulk of this year’s currently estimated $1.8 trillion deficit was determined by Bush’s policies, not Obama’s.

I think conservative anger is misplaced. To a large extent, Obama is only cleaning up messes created by Bush. This is not to say Obama hasn’t made mistakes himself, but even they can be blamed on Bush insofar as Bush’s incompetence led to the election of a Democrat. If he had done half as good a job as most Republicans have talked themselves into believing he did, McCain would have won easily.

Conservative protesters should remember that the recession, which led to so many of the policies they oppose, is almost entirely the result of Bush’s policies. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-08-12/the-gops-misplaced-rage/full/

[Skink]

1. Ocean liners actually turn well.

I saw one park in Miami for its first time whilst I was on another ship. It took awhile but it was Glorious.

[Selatius]

2. The problem is, like Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler, Bush appointed blind loyalists to all positions

The result is nobody is willing to tell the president the bad news, and nobody is going to tell the president that the bad news was caused by bad policies that the president wanted in the first place. Look at FEMA. There was basically no FEMA during Katrina. The guy appointed to run FEMA only had experience organizing equestrian shows, no disaster relief experience whatsoever. To a larger extent, the appointees Bush placed into key positions did what he wanted them to do.

Those facts outlined in the article are devastating for any conservative to read, but it's been something critical thinkers have been aware of for quite a while now. Stupidity is hard to drill through.

[kristopher]

3. Truer words are seldom spoken (or typed) nt

[4dsc]

4. Wow, that last paragraph says it all

Until conservatives once again hold Republicans to the same standard they hold Democrats, they will have no credibility and deserve no respect. They can start building some by admitting to themselves that Bush caused many of the problems they are protesting.

I'm going to bookmark this article..

[R. P. McMurphy]

5. duplicate post

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8585415