Ronald Reagan, dealt with a much tougher economic situation with double digit interests rates, double digit unemployment, and double digit inflation and not once did he whine about inheriting anything.
He just worked hard, didn’t play 95 rounds of golf and dealt with the job as president like a true leader.
Instapundit via James Pethokoukis at Rnterprise Blog reports Ronald Reagan inherited a Long Recession. The economy declined 0.3 percent in 1980, grew at a subpar 2.5 percent in 1981, and then plunged 1.9 percent in 1982. The lengthy downturn was really the culmination of more than a decade of bad economic policy. But the Reagan Recovery was stunning. GDP rose 4.5 percent in 1983 and 7.2 percent in 1984. It was Morning in America, and Reagan won reelection by a landslide.
Barack Obama also inherited a Long Recession. According the National Bureau of Economic Research, the U.S. economy entered recession in 2007 and stayed there until June 2009. But the Obama Recovery has been terribly weak. The economy grew at a 2.8 percent pace in the second half of 2009, 3.0 percent in 2010, and — according to new Commerce Department data – 1.7 percent in 2011. We’ll see what happens in the 2012 election, but Obama’s current approval rating is 43 percent, according to Gallup.
As economist Lawrence Kudlow of CNBC notes:
After 10 quarters of recovery, the Reagan growth rate was 6 percent. Compare that with Obama’s 2.4 percent. Or compare Obama’s 2.4 percent with the 4.6 percent post-World War II average recovery rate after 10 quarters.
More here
Comparing Obama to Ronald Reagan is like comparing a duck to a Thoroughbred. There’s just no comparison.
The Last Tradition is fast becoming one of the most popular political blogs on the net. Don’t miss out on the fun and tell a friend.