With unemployment still high and the price of gas averaging almost $4 a gallon nationally, it may seem odd to suggest that the economy is worth bragging about. Indeed, Obama’s single-minded pursuit of health-care reform, an effort that took far longer than he had planned, was perceived by Americans as a distraction from their top concern, jobs.
But considering the situation when Obama took office, with the economy on the brink of collapse, Obama administration officials argue that the nation could have wound up in much worse straits.
Just three years after the financial meltdown, the stock market has already recovered. Unemployment peaked at 10.2 percent in October 2009, compared with the top rate of 10.8 percent during President Reagan’s first two years – and 25 percent at its peak during the Great Depression. Unemployment ticked back up to 9 percent in April, though job creation was strong. A fall in crude oil prices could foretell lower gas prices.
Obama argues that the $787 billion economic stimulus package, passed within weeks of his inauguration, plus bailouts of financial institutions, the auto industry, and home mortgages, averted a true economic calamity. But debate continues to rage over the impact of the stimulus. And there’s no doubt that all that spending pumped up the deficit and national debt to alarming levels.
It also gave birth to the tea party movement – which in turn helped the Republicans win control of the House last November. But Obama still stands behind his handling of the economic crisis he inherited.
