"The fact that the US sells more or less products overseas than those sold to US consumers borders on meaningless. "
"...the Bush bashers are pulling out the stops to induce a counter panic."
I think you might be confusing the issue. Just because someone says something about the trade problem doesn't mean they are bashing Bush. In fact, private and government economists have been cautioning about this problem for years, long before Bush.
Oh, and this trade problem isn't "meaningless".
This rhetorical game has been played dozens of times since at least the 1970s.
The trade deficit means less and less every year as companies are more interconnected globally. Walmart makes a lot of money as an American retailer selling goods produced in other countries. Walmart is one of the nation's largest employers and one of the greatest businesses on the planet.
It is emblematic of how trade deficits are probably good-- if they mean anything. How many times do we have to observe recessions reducing trade deficits before we conceed this point?
Lower trade deficits mean consumers dont have the money to buy their cheap chinese vcrs. That's it. That's all it means.