Opinion: Economic Confidence Rises Despite Republican Efforts Against It
Republicans have been talking down the economy for almost four years.
An economic recovery has not been viewed by Republican politicos as what is best for the American family or for the United States of America. It would be bad for their politics after all.
The GOP has been focused on what is bad for President Obama's reelection rather than what is good for the country.
That is why Republicans threatened to default on the US debt last year and created a debt crisis that was a bad choice if your goal was to help the US economy.
But that is not their goal.
In October 2010 Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell clearly articulated the priorities of the GOP. He said, "the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."
Not jobs. Not growing the economy. Not exports. Not anything to do with the economy.
Just a single-minded effort to defeat the president and if the economy suffers along the way, all the better.
Nine days into the Obama Administration, Mitt Romney complained that the presidents' policies were not working.
Nine days into an Administration that inherited the worst economy since Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office during the Great Depression.
But last week the US economy got a bump despite Republican pessimism.
Gallop's measure of economic confidence jumped 11 points last week when Republicans were unable to talk down the economy and Democrats were able to deliver facts.
There were no Paul Ryan style speeches filled with lies and half truths. There were no statements about disregard for the facts like the one that came from Team Romney about not letting fact checkers dictate their campaign.
There were, however, facts. President Clinton schooled the Romney/Ryan ticket on how to do math.
Speaker after speaker talked about how the auto industry is on the rise, how the stock market is on the rise, how corporate profits are on the rise and how, albeit slowly, jobs are on the rise.
Three days of fact based discussions about where the US economy was, where it is and where it is headed provided a much needed boost to economic confidence.
Romney, Ryan and the GOP are back at it already. They don't want the Republican Governors in Florida, Ohio and Virginia telling voters the truth: the economy is improving in those states ahead of the national average because of the policies the president has put in place.
Republicans will continue to talk down the economy for the next two months specifically because they want the economy, and the country, to suffer in order to win an election.
About Bill Buck
Bill Buck is a Democratic strategist, President of the Buck Communications Group, a media relations and new media strategies consulting business based in Washington, DC, and Managing Director of the online ad firm Influence DSP. He has over twenty years of international and national communications experience. The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CBS Local.
