The RNC latest strategy appears to be a combination of the "dissent is treason" meme and the ever-popular the "best defense is a good offense" ploy. According to an
AP wire story, "Republican Party Officials"
accused the Democrats of undermining President Bush's efforts to revive the economy, create jobs and bring peace to Iraq.
"They will continue a pattern of political hate speech," Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie said during a news conference. "They're very negative, obviously, and they will continue to pursue that."
Certainly, they can try to fly that story, and we should expect them to. But, as Paul Krugman notes in his elegantly argued New York Times editorial:
Bear in mind that the payroll employment figure right now is down 2.6 million compared with what it was when George W. Bush took office. So Mr. Snow is predicting that his boss will be the first occupant of the White House since Herbert Hoover to end a term with fewer jobs available than when he started. This is what he calls success?
Bear in mind also that just increasing the number of jobs isn't good enough. If we want to improve the dismal prospects of job seekers -- currently, 75 percent of those who lose jobs still haven't found new jobs when their unemployment benefits run out -- the number of jobs must grow faster than the number of people who want to work. Indeed, because the working-age population of the United States is steadily growing, the economy must add about 130,000 jobs each month just to prevent the labor market from deteriorating?
Although "the usual suspects will roll out the usual explanations," Krugman notes, such as "[i]t is, of course, Bill Clinton's fault ... [o]r maybe Osama bin Laden did it," the critical fact to hold in mind throughout the invariable obfuscatory arguments is this:
Just for the record, the average rate of job creation during the whole of the Clinton administration was about 225,000 jobs a month. Mr. Clinton presided over the creation of 11 million jobs during each of his two terms.
In fighting for the future of this country, it would behoove the Democratic candidates to follow Clinton's lead here: It really is the economy, stupid.