is the subheading for the article in today's Washington Post Outlook section by Donald Luskin.
Luskin, who among other things appears on CNBC Kudlow and Company is a contributor to the NRO.
In this article, he basically bashes Obama, and anyone who insists on whining about the economy.
In the past two months, this newspaper alone has written no fewer than nine times, in news stories, columns and op-eds, that key elements of the economy are the worst they've been "since the Great Depression."
His gripe seems to be that newspapers are reporting about the economy during an election year. He uses unassailable logic to make his point:
But that doesn't make any of it true. Things today just aren't that bad.
We are just a nation of whiners.
Facts don't matter. They are fungible, at least in some people's universe.
Sure, there are trouble spots in the economy, as the government takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and jitters about Wall Street firm Lehman Brothers, amply demonstrate. And unemployment figures are up a bit, too. None of this, however, is cause for depression...
Yes, that is correct, Luskin's point is that none of the goings on in the economy is cause for concern. And like any good solder, he searches for a reason for the misguided impression that things are headed in the wrong direction:
Why, then, does the public appear to agree with the media?
And since he is a pundit, he of course knows the answer:
Actually, that's a major clue to what started this thought-contagion about everything being the worst it has been "since the Great Depression": Politics.
Politics. Sigh. Yes, this is all just the result of politics. So, if someone tries to discuss the economy in less that the rosiest of terms, they actually are to blame for any less that stellar conditions that exist. But, you ask, is anyone most culpable?
Patient zero in this epidemic is the Democratic candidate for president. As it would be for any challenger, it's in his interest to portray the incumbent party's economic performance in the grimmest possible terms.
And so, we have it in a nutshell. Rather than addressing the fact that John McCain is summarily out of touch with what is going on in the economy and the extent to which people are hurting, Luskin blames the victims and calls out the person who recognizes this and speaks to it and the real cause of our malaise.
Did I mention that Luskin is actually an economic advisor to McCain? Yeah, pretty easy to miss, since the Post doesn't think it worthy of mentioning and it is only noted in the very last paragraph of the first page of the article (where it is most likely to be missed.
Please let the Washington Post know that they can't get away with this kind of crap. I've asked it before, and I'll ask you to do it again. Write to the Post and tell them how this makes you feel about supporting their advertisers, and how it shames this once proud paper.
Please send your email to Deborah Howell at:
ombudsman@washpost.com
Tell her to do her job.