The Obammunism Chronicles 6: Melting Down the Market

by Patrick Gibson

Americans were left scratching their heads today and wondering "Did he really just say that?" as President-elect Barack Obama threatened promised that the US economy would "get worse before it gets better."

After blinking my eyes several times I was pretty sure my eyeballs weren't going to pop out from the rapidly increasing pressure in my head. The president-elect was essentially talking down an economy that has crashed in anticipation of what is widely expected to be four years of looting our government. What does he want? Dow 2500 again?

Calming down I thought back on how some other leaders have dealt with market turbulence and economic downturns.

Bush has been relatively laissez-faire in his treatment of the markets, if not the economy. That has led some on Wall Street to question his economic leadership even as the market doubled under his presidency. I can't recall him ever saying a negative word about American productivity, American labor, or the value of our economy.

Clinton wouldn't let the market drop 100 points before he or someone in his administration would make some kind of "announcement" talking up our economy. I am no Clinton fan, but he massaged the Dow like a expensive hooker and we all benefited from that.

Reagan was the standard. He inherited an economy in deep recession and led us out of it with vision and confidence in the American worker. After the crash of 1987, he quipped that the stock market had correctly predicted 9 of the last 6 recessions, reminding people that things would get better. And boy did they as we then had the longest economic expansion in history. It lasted right up until Obama took the lead in the primaries last fall.

What can I say about Carter that hasn't been said before. I was really young but I remember riding to school in my mom's unheated car and leaving home early for the gas lines. I remember my stepdad being out of work and I remember getting kind of sick of Manwiches and minute steak dinners.

We are told Obama is smart. He is certainly well educated. He is smooth. He is perpetually unruffled. And he has a bold new plan to rebuild our economy. So we are told.

Then why do you suppose he doesn't know or understand that a president-elect talking like that puts unnecessary pressure on already devastated markets? Maybe it's the same reason he doesn't seem to understand when a human life begins. Or that success needs to be rewarded and not punished. Or that the second amendment protects innocent lives. Or that giving people loans who can't afford them can precipitate a crash like this. I am starting to think our bold new president doesn't want to know these things.

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