Friday, August 03, 2012
Obama's good news and bad news day
The good news for President Obama: jobs growth last month came in stronger than anticipated. The bad news: It wasn't strong enough to keep up with labor-market growth, so the unemployment rate ticked up. So it's a wash -- and the president doesn't need these types of economic washes with the election only three months away. Put it this way: There are still five million fewer jobs today than there were before the recession, and that roughly translates into five million unhappy voters. ... Frankly, I'm a little surprised the race is still relatively close in the polls. The economy should be killing the president's prospects right now. I guess it just shows that this country is still divided along partisan and ideological lines, as it was in 2008, when the collapsing economy should have killed off McCain's chances, early and decisively. That election was surprisingly close too. As were the 2004 and 2000 elections.
Update -- The jobs report was 'awesome news'? Doesn't take much to get Wall Street excited these days. Maybe investors are just relieved it wasn't worse, indicating a possible double-dip recession. But it certainly wasn't good enough to help Obama much. He needs much bigger numbers.
The good news for President Obama: jobs growth last month came in stronger than anticipated. The bad news: It wasn't strong enough to keep up with labor-market growth, so the unemployment rate ticked up. So it's a wash -- and the president doesn't need these types of economic washes with the election only three months away. Put it this way: There are still five million fewer jobs today than there were before the recession, and that roughly translates into five million unhappy voters. ... Frankly, I'm a little surprised the race is still relatively close in the polls. The economy should be killing the president's prospects right now. I guess it just shows that this country is still divided along partisan and ideological lines, as it was in 2008, when the collapsing economy should have killed off McCain's chances, early and decisively. That election was surprisingly close too. As were the 2004 and 2000 elections.
Update -- The jobs report was 'awesome news'? Doesn't take much to get Wall Street excited these days. Maybe investors are just relieved it wasn't worse, indicating a possible double-dip recession. But it certainly wasn't good enough to help Obama much. He needs much bigger numbers.
