"Why ‘Are you better off?’ is the wrong question for 2012" By Jamelle Bouie at WP

[applegrove]

Why ‘Are you better off?’ is the wrong question for 2012

By Jamelle Bouie at WP

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/why-are-you-better-off-is-the-wrong-question-for-2012/2012/09/03/a262cad8-f5d8-11e1-a93b-7185e3f88849_blog.html?tid=sm_btn_reddit

"SNIP..................................

That was the central question of Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech last Thursday, and obviously, the Republican presidential nominee answered it in the negative. Romney’s case for the presidency depends on voters abandoning President Obama because his response to the economic crisis has “failed.”

Because it’s a classic and seemingly crucial question, the press has run with it as a way to evaluate Obama ahead of the Democratic National Convention. Indeed, reports have all but adopted the GOP’s frame for the race. There’s no doubt that Team Romney is pleased with this development, especially since the Obama campaign and its surrogates spent yesterday stumbling over the issue.

White House senior advisor David Plouffe deflected the question, “I think everyone understands we were this close to a Great Depression. Because of the leadership of this president, we staved that off. We’re beginning to recover.” And Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley gave a muddled answer that sounded a little too close to “no.” “The question, without a doubt, we are not as well off as we were before George Bush brought us the Bush job losses, the Bush recession, the Bush deficits, the series of desert wars — charged for the first time to credit cards, the national credit cards,” he said.

But while the press and the GOP have imbued this question with magical properties — as if invoking it will suddenly remind Americans that things aren’t great — there’s little evidence for this as the way in which voters are evaluating Obama’s tenure. 63 percent of Americans say the country is on the “wrong track,” and only 36 percent approve of Obama’s handling of the economy. Even still, his approval rating continues to hover near 48 percent, and he maintains an overall lead over Romney.

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