Steve Benen notes that during the 2012 presidential election, several G.O.P. candidates made promises and predictions about what they could do to help the U.S. economy — and Obama has bettered all they said they could do…
- The Romney Standard: Mitt Romney said during the 2012 campaign that if Americans elect him, he'd get the unemployment rate down to 6% by 2016. Obama won anyway and the unemployment rate dropped below 6% two years faster.
- The Gingrich Standard: Newt Gingrich said during the 2012 campaign that if Americans re-elected the president, gas prices would reach $10 per gallon, while Gingrich would push gas down to $2.50 a gallon. As of this morning, the national average at the pump is a little under $2.38.
- The Pawlenty Standard: Tim Pawlenty said trillions of dollars in tax breaks would boost economic growth to 5% GDP. Obama actually raised taxes on the wealthy and GDP growth reached 5% anyway.
In the meantime, Obama has done such a thorough job of turning America into a Socialist nation that the Dow has hit 18,000 for the first time in history. No, he doesn't deserve all the credit for that or the above gains. He probably deserves exactly as much credit for the good news as he'd get blame if the news was as bad as it is good. These days, that's more than enough.