Wow. It's not news that Obama is targeting independent voters in his campaign, but he's now claiming that the Reagan/Bush administration was a better "agent for change" than the Clinton/Gore administration was.
Here's the video of Obama, talking with reporters from the Reno Gazette-Journal this week:
In case anyone -- perhaps most important, Barack Obama -- needs a history lesson, here is what Ronald Reagan "changed" about America:
Reagan's Economic Legacy:
Reagan's economic policies proposed that economic growth would occur when marginal tax rates were low enough to spur investment, which would then lead to increased economic growth, higher employment and wages. Critics called this "trickle-down economics" — the belief that tax policies that benefit the wealthy will create a "trickle-down" effect to the poor. The net effect of all Reagan-era tax bills resulted in a 1% decrease of government revenues representing, with the revenue-shrinking effects of the 1981 tax cut (-3% of GDP) and the revenue-gaining effects of the 1982 tax hike (~+1% of GDP), while subsequent bills were more revenue-neutral.
The administration's stance toward the Savings and Loan industry and reluctance to take action as problems arose contributed to the Savings and Loan crisis. It is also suggested, by a minority of Reaganomics critics, that the policies partially influenced the stock market crash of 1987, but there is no consensus regarding a single source for the crash. In order to cover newly-spawned federal budget deficits, the United States borrowed heavily both domestically and abroad, raising the national debt from $700 billion to $3 trillion, and the United States moved from being the world's largest international creditor to the world's largest debtor nation.[88] Reagan described the new debt as the "greatest disappointment" of his presidency.
Compare Bill Clinton's economic record:
In 1992, when Bill Clinton was elected President, the American economy was barely creating jobs, wages were stagnant, and the unemployment rate was 7.5 percent. His bold, three-part economic strategy focused on three objectives: fiscal discipline, investing in education, health care, science and technology, and opening foreign markets. This strategy helped foster the conditions for what was the longest expansion in U.S. history.
* 20.8 Million New Jobs Created Under the Clinton-Gore Administration. Since 1993, the economy added 20.8 million new jobs. That’s the most jobs ever created under a single Administration -- and more new jobs than Presidents Reagan and Bush created during their three terms. Under President Clinton, the economy added an average of 248,000 jobs per month, the highest of any President on record. This compares to 52,000 per month under President Bush and 167,000 per month under President Reagan.
* 92 Percent -- 19.2 Million -- of the New Jobs Have Been Created in the Private Sector. After President Clinton and Vice President Gore took office, the private sector of the economy added 19.2 million new jobs. That is 92 percent of the 20.8 million new jobs -- the highest percentage since Harry S. Truman was President and presiding over the post-World War II demobilization.
* African American and Hispanic Unemployment Rates Were the Lowest on Record. The unemployment rate for African Americans fell from 14.2 percent in 1992 to 8.2 percent in January 2000 -- remaining at the lowest rate on record. Unemployment for Hispanics fell from 11.6 percent in 1992 to 5.6 percent in January 2000 -- remaining at the lowest rate on record.
* Most Rapid Growth in Construction Jobs In 50 Years. After losing 662,000 jobs in construction during the previous four years, 2.0 million new construction jobs were added during the Clinton-Gore years -- that’s a faster annual rate (5.3 percent) than any other Administration since Harry S. Truman was President.
* Fastest and Longest Real Wage Growth in Over Three Decades. In the last 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased 3.7 percent -- faster than the rate of inflation. The United States had five consecutive years of real wage growth -- the longest consecutive increase since the 1960s. Since 1993, real wages were up 6.6 percent, after declining 4.3 percent during the Reagan and Bush years.
* Inflation -- Lowest Since the 1960s. Inflation remained virtually non-existent under Clinton-Gore, with the underlying core rate of inflation at 1.9 percent in 1999 -- the lowest rate since 1965. For 1999, the GDP price index grew only 1.4 percent. From 1998-2000, GDP inflation was lower than at any time since 1963.
We need to elect a true Democrat in 2008.
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
http://clinton4.nara.gov/...