Friday, June 01, 2012
Deval and Obama: A tale of two re-election campaigns
President Obama is in big, big trouble if the economy suffers a couple more disappointing jobs reports like this one released today. ... I recall covering and following Gov. Deval Patrick's re-election campaign two years ago. He looked like a goner heading into the last year of his first term. But three things happened: 1.) He seemed to have hit his political stride, pushing reforms and sounding upbeat. 2.) He had what turned out to be a lackluster GOP opponent. 3.) The job numbers broke his political way, with fairly decent unemployment reports coming out each month for most of 2010. There was a sense Massachusetts was economically rebounding faster than the rest of the nation. Now think of Obama. Has he hit his campaign stride yet? Nope. Does he have a weak opponent? Certainly doesn't look like that way. Are the jobs numbers breaking in his favor? No. ... He needs the June, July, August and September job reports to be much stronger than what they've been over the past few months. Much stronger.
President Obama is in big, big trouble if the economy suffers a couple more disappointing jobs reports like this one released today. ... I recall covering and following Gov. Deval Patrick's re-election campaign two years ago. He looked like a goner heading into the last year of his first term. But three things happened: 1.) He seemed to have hit his political stride, pushing reforms and sounding upbeat. 2.) He had what turned out to be a lackluster GOP opponent. 3.) The job numbers broke his political way, with fairly decent unemployment reports coming out each month for most of 2010. There was a sense Massachusetts was economically rebounding faster than the rest of the nation. Now think of Obama. Has he hit his campaign stride yet? Nope. Does he have a weak opponent? Certainly doesn't look like that way. Are the jobs numbers breaking in his favor? No. ... He needs the June, July, August and September job reports to be much stronger than what they've been over the past few months. Much stronger.
