Issues Under Fire: Economic Trends Support Continuity of US Leadership

Issues Under Fire: Economic Trends Support Continuity of US Leadership 

Current conditions facing the world will require maintaining a cool, calm and steady mindset at the helm in the Oval Office. From where we stand, America already has that in Barack Obama. After reviewing the latest damage reports from the global $hit storm of economic calamities, it appears the United States has weathered the worst. 

Considering the extent of the damage and the epicenter from which the crisis was initiated, the Obama administration has cauterized America's bleeding economy and it is now fairing as best one could reasonably expect.  From employment, to housing, to manufacturing, to the stock market, by every measure the US economy is "slowly" recovering. 

Should anyone be asked if they are better off today than they were four years ago, one need only look at one's stock portfolio, 401k, pensions and related assets. We think most will find, much of what they'd lost has been recovered. That is the best argument for the economy stabilizing to be made. 

Recovering from a less than stellar debate performance, this "indisputable" positive economic data should buoy the administration's polling numbers, while removing his adversary's primary talking point. Beating the drum of "40+ months of above 8% unemployment" is now of the table. 

With less than a month before Americans head to the voting booth, the GOP has the impossible task of convincing a nation to change course and repeal popular gains, while literally turning the calendar back with policies that crashed the world's economy. Tough job; we're its not ours! 

To shift direction now would only create additional global economic uncertainty. Believe it or not, there's still a modicum of respect for what the United States is capable of achieving when challenged. Hence, many economies remain dependent upon U.S. lawmakers bridging that "fiscal cliff" the nation is heading toward full steam ahead. 

Europe, China and other emerging economic forces are clearly watching to see if the United States is committed to maintaining some semblance of economic policy continuity. If the world's largest economy is so fickle and haphazardly managed as to reject sustained growth in the face of a near global contraction, it would signal the world that U.S. lawmakers are either totally incompetent or politically incapable of addressing its economic plight. Worse yet, the American voter could be viewed as scatterbrained ninnies, suffering from short term memory loss. 

On the other hand, since the administration's opposition is providing little more than empty promises and zero details to support those empty promises, we're certain America's electorate will stick with President Obama's proven 7.8%  jobs report in hand, instead of his opposition's "12 million jobs" hidden in the bush.