That dissatisfaction is driven by a harsh reality: Six-plus years after the recession officially ended, there has been no meaningful recovery in household income. At last month’s CNBC debate, which focused on economic issues, candidate after candidate blamed Obama and the Democrats for stagnant wages, persistent inequality and lackluster economic growth. Marco Rubio said the American dream is “slipping away.” John Kasich promised to “get this economy moving again.” And Bush, who has based his campaign in part on a pledge to return the country to 4 percent annual growth, asked viewers to “imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again.”īut Republicans face their own delicate dance. The middle class didn’t exactly thrive under the last Republican president median household income rose sharply in the 1990s but was stagnant in the 2000s, when George W. Then there’s the small matter of the financial crisis, which struck on Bush’s watch and sparked the worst recession since the Great Depression. Bush doesn’t necessarily deserve much blame for the economic collapse, but Democrats haven’t been shy about reminding voters who was in office when it happened.Īll of this presumes that the economy on Election Day next year will resemble the one we see today, but that’s far from a safe assumption. In November 2007, many pundits expected the upcoming presidential campaign to focus on security and international issues.
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