We all know by now that Mitt Romney once said the president made the economy worse, then backpedaled bigtime yesterday insisting he said no such thing despite the existence of videotape.
So here's the follow-up question the press needs to ask the Mitt Romney cardboard standee: if the economy didn't, in fact, get worse under President Obama, doesn't that imply the economy is recovering? While propped up against that fence like a lost Sears mannequin, Romney said the economy's not doing "great." Yet even the Romney Unit can see that it's recovering and doing better. The press needs to get Romney to admit it.
But nah. He won't say that.
Yes, the unemployment rate is still too high, and yes the housing market continues to suck, among other things. We need a second stimulus and right soon. But there's no denying that the policies of the Obama administration not only averted a major depression, but actually inaugurated a recovery from a deep, deep chasm.
We refer now to Steve Benen's handy dandy charts.
Job Growth under Presidents Bush (red) and Obama (blue):
And GDP growth under Presidents Bush and Obama:
Not perfection, but absolutely better and healthier than when he took office. In fact, you can mark the exact beginning of the recovery with the passage of the stimulus in March 2009. Note that date on the chart in relation to the upswing in the economy.
Mitt Romney has no choice but to admit that if shit's not getting worse, shit's getting better. Or he should go home.