It’s the politician’s corollary to “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
“If you can’t fix it, break it really badly, really quickly, so you can blame the previous administration.”
Here’s a thought:
We might remember that Dems spent the last two years working to break the economy so they could beat Pres Bush with actual data. They succeeded, but even they, on reflection, recognize they did far too good a job. They thought (in their shallow degree of understanding about actual economies) that TARP I was all that would be needed. As it turned out, not only was it not needed, but simply by doing it they made TARP II almost inevitable.
The word games since then have simply been smoke screens to prevent anyone connecting a serious thought in this regard.