Posted on 11/01/2003 5:39:31 PM PST by Iowegian
For more than two years now, the Democrats seeking the presidency have planned on running a 2004 campaign built around the weak economy and patterned after Bill Clinton's 1992 defeat of President Bush's father.
But with the economy having surged this past quarter they are suddenly confronting the possibility of a far less encouraging historical comparison: that the election year economy could be more like the one Ronald Reagan ran on in 1984, when the country was coming out of a long slump.
The rapid change in the outlook underscored by figures released on Thursday showing the fastest quarterly economic growth since 1984 is already forcing the Democratic presidential candidates to calibrate their attack on Mr. Bush's economic record in ways they did not have to just a week ago. It has also left them in danger of looking as though they were clinging to economic gloom.
Rather than simply lamenting the the economy, the Democrats now say that one good quarter does not erase three sluggish years. The growth has not caused a rebound in the job market, they note, and large budget deficits loom for years.
"For there to be a genuine recovery, it's got to happen in more than economic statistics," Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, and a presidential candidate, said on Thursday on the campaign trail in Buffalo. "It's got to happen in the lives of America's middle class and those working hard to get into it."
Many Democrats say they still consider the economy an issue that will benefit them next year. President George Bush lost in 1992 even though employment began growing eight months before Election Day, they point out.
"I just think the likelihood I can't prove this in any way is that people are going to have uncertainty, not reassurance, about where the economy is headed," said Representative Richard A. Gephardt, Democrat of Missouri, another presidential contender.
But even many Democratic campaign aides concede that their task has just become more difficult. A sustained recovery could reduce projected budget deficits that are at the core of their attacks on the administration's tax cuts. A turnaround might also cause the job market to improve early enough before Election Day to influence voters.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This is a first, dims admitting that it wasn't clintoon that pulled us out of recession. Dims now have to tell the truth in order to lie about how even if the economy continues to grow it still won't help President Bush's re-election.
Hysterical.
I realize this isn't the simple answer, the "Occam's Razor" reason. Just an idle musing I've had on more than one occasion.
Indeed, it exposes them for their real ambition: a return to power. They'll use any and all means to do it, including, in this case, actual facts!
Yep, they have to pray for a depression to get back into power. Unfortunately there are many of FR (conservatives?) that seem to have the same bad hopes for our economy.
I have my doubts that al Qaeda thinks about the 2004 presidential elections but, if they were to look at it politically, they'd find they were in a no-win situation until after the 2004. If there are no significant terror attacks on U.S. shores, Bush's supporters will say "see? he's done a great job of defending the country from future attacks".
If, however, there is a major terrorist attack, there will be a natural rallying behind the Commander-in-Chief as there was after 9-11 (except at the DNC and their branches in academia and newsrooms).
So they can either choose not to attack and give people a reason to vote for Bush or attack and give people a stronger reason to vote for Bush.
The only way they could hurt Bush's election chances would be to assassinate him or succeed in a terrorist attack that was obviously preventable in the post 9-11 security we are supposed to have.
I just don't think Osama and his goons care if they are affecting Bush's re-election chances or not.
"Looking as though" ???? Ha! They aren't "looking as though." Democrats are crossing all fingers and toes HOPING for economic gloom. It's disgusting. I'm an independent (not registered with any party). Those democrats should know that there are a LOT of us independents that see right through them.
What does that tell you?
Democrats need misery to govern. They have no vision, no plan, no nothing.
LOL. I like you're style. You've got bal...uhh...gona...uhh...guts and a sharp wit. Thanks for the quick chuckle on an early Sunday morning.
Soon they'll trot out family members of dead soldiers. Microphones stuck in the face of a crying mother or stoic father could be worth a vote or two for democrats.
It might have been better to see them jumping with joy over economic problems, then celebrating the death of our brave American men and women.
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