A Bush spokesman raises eyebrows by suggesting that the current economic surge is more robust than the surge of the late '90's Allow me to preface this post by saying that presidents always get way too much credit and blame for the state of the economy. Having said that, it's interesting to compare the economic conditions of the Bush presidency to the Clinton presidency. Bush Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto told the Examiner that "This is a much stronger expansion in a lot of ways. It's much deeper and more measured."