This GOP Lie Still Won't Fly

Ever since President Obama took office in January of 2009, the Republicans in Congress have tried to hang the faltering economy (recession) around his neck like an albatross. And since that time the congressional Republicans have obstructed every effort of the president and Democrats to create jobs and get the economy moving again. It is their hope that if they can keep the economy from moving again for long enough, then voters will forget who threw this nation in to recession (Bush and Republicans) and blame President Obama.

The chart above (from The Maddow Blog) shows the truth. A healthy economy will produce a gross domestic product (GDP) of about 3% or better. The chart shows that for the last five economic quarters in the Bush presidency the economy was in very poor shape, unable to reach even a meager 2% growth. And in the final two quarters of the Bush presidency, the bottom fell out of the nation's economy -- with the third quarter of 2008 showing negative growth of nearly 4% and the fourth quarter showing negative growth of over 8%.

The truth is that in spite of the continuous Republican obstructionism, the economy began to improve almost immediately after President Obama took office. No quarter in his three year term has shown a GDP as bad as the final quarter of the Bush term, and it only took him three quarters (less than a year) to get the nation's GDP back to showing positive growth.

The nation has not dipped back down into negative growth since that time, although GDP did fall after the Republicans took control of the House in the fourth quarter of 2010 and were able to more effectively obstruct Democratic efforts to rehabilitate the economy. The truth is that it was the Republican "trickle-down" economic policy that caused the recession and it is Republican obstructionism that has been a drag on the economy since President Obama took office.


But that obstructionism, while unable to completely tank the economy again, has been effective in stunting a recovery -- especially in the area of job creation. This brings up an important question. Are the American people now blaming President Obama for the recession, or do they still remember who caused it? And are the people now blaming President Obama or the Republican House for the failure to create jobs?

The second question is easily answered. All we have to do is look at the approval ratings of the president and Congress. The president's approval ratings are in the upper 40% range, while Congressional approval is currently about 13%. It's pretty obvious who the people are blaming for the continuing high unemployment and faltering economy.

And a new Washington Post/ABC News Poll shows that Americans still do not blame President Obama for the poll, in spite of repeated GOP efforts to place the blame on him. Here is what that poll showed:

Blame Bush...............54%
Blame Obama...............29%
Blame both...............9%

And when you take the Republicans and Democrats out of the equation and consider only the opinions of the Independents, the blame shifts even more toward Bush for the recession and its after-effects. About 57% of Independents blame Bush while only 25% blame Obama.

The Republicans are still trying to sell the lie that Obama is to blame for the economy, and they will continue to do so at least until the next election. It's really the only argument they have and they have put all their eggs in that basket. But it is not working. The people know who is to blame -- George Bush and his Republican Party.