On Friday’s PBS NewsHour, both “conservative” David Brooks and liberal Mark Shields thought this was a tough, tight election for Barack Obama. Shields said “it becomes a race about disqualifying, a campaign about disqualifying your opponent. And that’s not attractive or appealing. It’s not hope and change. It’s blood and guts.”
But Brooks really felt Obama’s pain: “So the president is obviously going to try. He is going to have. And to some extent, you have to feel sorry for him. This is in large degree not his fault. Things are happening way beyond his control. I don’t believe a president has control over a quarterly economy in any case.” He added:
But the European situation is certainly not his fault. The Chinese slowdown is not his fault. And the Europe thing cannot be underestimated. There was a study by some economists this week that, say, Greece leaves the euro peacefully. Well, that reduces growth to our 1.7. Say it brings Spain and Italy, and it as much messier. Then it is even worse. Obama has really very little control and he’s sort of a victim of this myth that presidents control the economy quarter to quarter.
At least Brooks didn’t see the point of further “stimulus” spending: “listen, we are borrowing a trillion dollars a year, we’re borrowing 40 cents on the dollar. Do we really think if we borrow a $1.1 trillion a year, somehow, that is going to magically transform the economy? I’m a little dubious.” So why not place some of the blame on Obama?
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