Friday, June 27, 2008

Another Thing He Broke

The numbers continue to drop for George Bush. A recent Times/Bloomberg poll discloses that a huge proportion of Americans blame him for our soured economy.

Three out of four Americans, including large numbers of Republicans, blame President Bush's economic policies for making the country worse off during the last eight years, according to a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll released Wednesday, reflecting a sharp increase in public pessimism during the last year.

Nine percent of respondents said the country's economic condition had improved since Bush became president, compared with 75% who said conditions had worsened. Among Republicans, 42% said the country was worse off, while 26% said it was about the same, and 22% thought economic conditions had improved.


In post polling interviews, there were some pretty telling comments:

Phillip Thies, a registered Republican and clothing-store owner in Cedar, Mich., who was one of those polled, said the president was doing an able job through the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks but "right after that, it was steadily, steadily downhill."

"There has been a lack of leadership and a lack of timeliness of leadership, of not being conscious of the magnitude of the problems," Thies said of Bush in a follow-up interview. "He's always a day late and a dollar short."

Said Lois Coleman, 84, of Floyds Knobs, Ind., who described herself as an independent, "I'm not as well off as I was before he was president and that pertains to all my friends, too, everyone I know."


While I'm a little worried about the 9% who think the economy has improved (I didn't think there were that many super-rich among us), I'm absolutely stunned that that 42% of Republicans admit the economy has worsened under the Bush administration. Mr. Thies, a small business owner, must really feel betrayed.

The obvious discomfort is finally being felt, primarily because of the huge rise in fuel costs and the attendent rise in food and other goods which require transporting to market. Too many Americans, people like Mr. Thies, just naturally assumed that a Republican president would have a handle on at least the economy. Their assumptions were clearly wrong, as wrong as this administration's economic policies.

It's a shame it took eight years for them to open their eyes.

207 Days

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