This
election is turning into Barack Obama vs. George W. Bush. But then, so did the
last Presidential election. There is just one problem with this. George W. Bush
and Barack Obama never faced each other in an election. Details, details. Obama
is still running against Bush, and Bush is still not on the ballot.
Last
week I posted the unemployment rates from the beginning of the Bush years
through May of this year. I tried to show how the Bush years had full
employment for the most part and for a couple of years, it was more than full
employment. The purpose was to show that job creation cannot be compared by the
numbers because if there is full employment, how do you hire still more?
Unfortunately,
I forgot to point out something else about those years. The unemployment rate
began to increase in 2007. In addition the economic growth rate began to
decrease in 2007. Something else happened in 2007. In the election of 2006, the
Democrats won both the House and the Senate and were sworn in in early January
2007.
So
how does this relate to Obama blaming Bush? Well, the House and the Senate is
not the only election in 2006. All House seats are up every two years and a
third of the Senate is up every two years. But there are also state offices
that are elected in the midterm elections. Michigan’s seat for Governor is one
of those.
Prior
to 2002, the Governor of Michigan was limited to three terms in office. In 2002
that changed to two four year terms. The Governor in Michigan prior to 2002 was
John Engler, a Republican. He was finishing his third term. Taxes were lower,
unemployment in the state was at 3%. Granholm ran and won her first term as
Governor in 2002.
In
2006, she ran for a second term. Unemployment was soaring. Michigan had the
highest unemployment rate in the country and it wasn’t showing any indication
of stopping from going up. The state had begun to fall apart during Granholm’s
four years. Her opponent in that election was Richard DeVos, the rich
businessman best known as being the son of one of the two founders of Amway and
very successful in his own right in business.
Granholm
claimed that the states maladies had been caused by Engler and she had “inherited”
his mess and she was still cleaning it up but that she needed four more years
to finish the job. She didn’t run against DeVos, she ran against Engler. Engler’s
years were successful and the state was thriving but she, and the willing
press, claimed that it was falling apart because of her predecessor. In a state
that is for the most part a liberal state, it was an easy sell. She was the
bashed on female against the evil male millionaire who was more of the same of
John Engler.
Granholm
never faced Engler directly in an election. But she ran against him in the
first election, even though the real opponent was Dick Posthumous the Lt.
Governor. In 2006, she ran against Engler, even though her real opponent was
Dick DeVos. This tactic gave Granholm four more years. What did she do with
that four years? She increased the unemployment rate still higher. Michigan was
falling apart.
Sound
familiar? Barack Obama is running against Bush, who has never been the
opposition on the ballot against Obama. Obama’s words? “I inherited a mess.”
Do
not take blaming Bush lightly. Michigan is a perfect example why we should not
take this tactic lightly however ridiculous it sounds. With Obama’s record the
past three years, even Democrats should have been begging for Obama to be
challenged in primaries. A serious challenge, not some convicted felon in Texas
running in the West Virginia primary. Instead, Obama is running virtually
unchallenged in his own party, so he sits back and claims it’s Bush’s fault for
all of the problems in this country.
Each
time I hear that Obama inherited the problems created by Bush, I think it’s
silly that anyone would even consider this as viable. Yet, it’s repeated by the press and the constant repetition
has made it sound as though it’s a given.
Can blaming Bush work? The 2006 re-election of Jennifer Granholm in Michigan says it can work.
You’re
welcome to comment.
Brett
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