Whose Economy is this anyway

One of the biggest disappointments of 2011 is how little influence the President has exerted over policy. This is one of the main reasons for his falling poll numbers as Democrats become disillusioned with a President who has done little to nothing to push the agenda that he campaigned on.

To the Republicans credit they have essentially controlled the message and the agenda since the November elections. This includes attacking unions, continuing unsustainably low tax rates, cutting business taxes, making regulations a center piece of job creation, obsessing over the National Debt, limiting as many welfare benefits as possible, and of course limiting abortions and expanding gun rights where ever possible.

The good news for Democrats is that the economy is no longer their problem. In July of 2009, after less than six months in office Eric Cantor said "Simply put, this is now President Obama's economy". Since the Democrats have essentially been rendered impotent by Republican control coupled with legislative procedures and the President has caved on every issue that has come to the fore over the past ten months that must mean simply put, this is now the Republicans economy.

Is this true? Maybe. Maybe not. But that is not really important in today's political climate. The goal has become to discredit the man behind the policy or the argument rather than actually debating the argument the man makes. Why come up with counter facts to support your position when you can just discredit the person making the argument?

This is the sort of tactic that bore the Birther's, the Bill Ayers conspirators, and the "Obama is a Muslim" phenomenon. None of these topics have anything to do with the President's implementation of Keynesian economics or the results of the Stimulus Package but they sure make for effective political tools to rally the base.

Both sides of the aisle have ideas for how to create jobs. Some good and some bad. In the past Legislators would have sat down and had some give and take and thrown a bunch of ideas at the wall to see what sticks. Today we live in a world where political posturing outweighs action. Unfortunately the only jobs that are created under these circumstances are in Political Action Committees, Lobbyist offices, and media punditry. And it's all the Republicans fault!