OPINION:
Polls show the public knows Democratic policies have hurt the country. Having no defense, Democrats have ramped up efforts to blame George W. Bush for today’s troubles, going so far as to distribute “Blame Bush” pocket cards with talking points attacking the former president. American voters are too smart to fall for the blame game.
Voter focus this year should be on Congress. This is because the economy started to go haywire once Democrats took over Capitol Hill. The rule has held for 20 years. The economy sputtered under Democratic Congresses in the early 1990s until Republicans won majorities in 1994. A stock-market rally began that very day, and the boom lasted with only one interruption (following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks) all the way into early 2007.
In 2007, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid took control of the House and Senate respectively and accelerated a spending spree begun on a smaller scale under President Bush. Democrats pushed heavier regulations, more debt and a weaker dollar - and investor confidence evaporated. Panic started building in August 2007. Eventually, the whole economy tanked.
Debt held by the public, as a percentage of gross domestic product, stayed at a historically normal 37 percent until the Pelosi-Reid regime. Then it exploded. The housing market started collapsing in 2007. After a post-Sept. 11 spike, the budget deficit headed downward until Democrats took over. Unemployment was below 6 percent for the Bush boom in the mid-2000s until it skyrocketed under Democratic mismanagement.
On almost every economic front, a boom didn’t start until Republicans kicked Democrats out in 1994 and didn’t end until the reverse happened during the 2006 elections. The recession worsened after Mr. Obama moved into the White House. Most recessions bottom out faster than this one, and most don’t get so bad. But with the Obama-Pelosi-Reid triumvirate putting our grandchildren in ever more debt, businesses and consumers are too scared to invest and get the private economy going.
Democrats can try to find scapegoats, but it’s obvious where the problem lies.
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