Are you better off in 2015 than in 2009?
By Don Valentine
That famous question ushered in Ronald Reagan to a 2 term Presidency. Let me posit that you and the rest of the United States are better off than when President Bush left office. The current administration is widely criticized as one of worst in American history. Not only do the current conservative pundits from Rush Limbaugh to Sean Hannity espouse that view, there are a plethora of articles extolling how worthless this President has been to the U.S. Moreover, seminal publications from the respected Brooking’s institute, to the Washington Times and marginal blogs like “Forward Progressive.com” have all supported the concept that this President is one of the worst of all time.
Let’s examine it from the above Reagan perspective. In 2009 the country was mired in 2 multi-Billions dollar armed conflicts. The widely acknowledged malfeasance used to pull the U.S. and allies into the war in Iraq has to put that administration into the worst 10 of all time. Consider that the U.S. Department of Defense reported in May 29 2012 that we had 4,491 U.S. personal killed in the Iraq war. That is a well researched number, due to the necessity of military paper work that has to be processed. The Associated Press reported on April 14, 2009 that 110,600 Iraqi’s had been killed in the war. The current President is clearly, not responsible for the death of over 115,000 people and we have not factored in the amount of deaths from our allies.
Truth be told, I voted for Mitt Romney. I was a fan of his Mass. health plan. That is almost the same paradigm the current President implement-ed. For his effort to implement some form of affordable health care he has been routinely vilified.
One could argue that if the U.S. can distribute, according to a report produced 12-19-2013 by the Finance Degree Center, $37,680,000,000 to Foreign aid we can provide health care to our citizens first. Interestingly, none of his critics have submitted an alternative plan for public health.
In 2009 financially, the country was on the precipice of a banking collapse. It is universally agreed that this was the second worst economic time in U.S. history. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2009 the unemployment rate had ballooned to an egregious high of 10%. The Bush administration did not leave the current President with a vibrant economic landscape. This President to his credit, according to CNN-Money 11-6-2015, has managed to get unemployment down to 5%. In addition, the hourly wages have risen by 2.5% based on CNN research in the same article.
I have to begrudgingly say, that does not qualify as one of the worst Presidents in American history. Then toss in that the current administrations managed to find Bin Laden. Which was a feat the Bush administration never accomplished to their dismay. The deficit under Obama has elevated, but he was not left with the economy that President Bush absorbed. Bush inherited a health economy with a government surplus. “Poltifact” in April 2015 commented that because of the severity of the recession and the 2 wars, President Obama was forced to increase the deficit. When you factor in the challenges of the precarious environment President Obama encountered he can’t be included as one of the worst Presidents in history. We are better off in the stock market, unemployment rate, and bank stability than in 2009!
