Bush economic revisionism approached satire this week, as the conservative commentariat began suggesting that voters miss the former president remembered for pursuing economic policies that drove the national economy into a historic recession and financial crisis. Efforts to whitewash the Bush economy are nothing new on the right, but by suggesting a growing nostalgia for Bush the right tacitly advances the campaign of Mitt Romney, a campaign that even Republicans acknowledge is nothing more than an updated version of what Bush left behind. Moreover, the effort comes as the right tries to obscure the fact that during Romney’s tenure as governor, Massachusetts ranked 47th out of all states in jobs creation. The campaign to astroturf Bush nostalgia began during discussion of a White House ceremony unveiling a portrait of the former president. Rush Limbaugh proposed adding a bubble to the portrait asking, “Miss me yet?” Fox soon followed that suggestion.
I suppose this is what happens when you have nothing of substance of value to offer voters. What you’re left with is propaganda, disinformation, and amnesia. After all, George W. Bush was so four years ago, and how many people even remember that he’s largely responsible for leaving office as the economy was already in a tailspin? Who’s going to remember that the current economic downturn was not created by Barack Obama? Certainly not the GOP, who are going to be working overtime to convince the American Sheeple that Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © really was an inspired and gifted visionary.
Yeah, right….
My lack of faith in the American Sheeple notwithstanding (there’s still plenty of time for Americans to vote against their best interests), it appears that, so far at least, the prevailing consensus is that Captain Codpiece © is primarily to blame for the state of today’s economy. This is not good news for Conservatives, who, lacking a coherent coterie of ideas, are left to depend on collective amnesia infecting the electorate.
The truth is that Republican austerity continues to drag down the economy. Yet, Rush Limbaugh and a parade of GOP luminaries continue to tout the “successes” of the Bush economy. If that’s success…man, I’d hate to see how they define failure.
A little perspective: while the economy may have created “only” 65,000 jobs last month (which, admittedly, is not a good enough number), we should keep in mind that in May, 2008, the economy LOST 190,000 jobs.
And yet Conservatives are still selling Dubya’s economies policies are if they were some sort of magic panacea, which I suppose they were…if you happen to be a member of the 1%.
