The economic pivot: from assigning blame to taking credit

[ProSense]

The economic pivot: from assigning blame to taking credit

By Steve Benen

For more than three years, congressional Republicans have been eager, if not desperate, to push a simple message: the economy stinks and the public should blame President Obama.

With the economy improving, however, some GOP lawmakers suddenly have a very different idea in mind for an election-year message.

In a break with party leaders, some House Republicans want the GOP to take credit for the improvement in the economy that has occurred under their majority.

It's an economic argument that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has thus far rejected, despite the fact that the unemployment rate has fallen by nearly a full percentage point in the nearly 15 months since Republicans took control of the House.

"I don't know why they don't make it, but I believe it's the truth," said freshman Rep. Jeff Landry (R-La.). "I believe that if anybody's going to get a pat on the back for [lower] unemployment and the better economy, it's House Republicans, and not the president and not the Senate."

Landry's argument, giving House Republicans credit for the recent economic improvements, has apparently been endorsed by Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) and GOP economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, among others.

As a substantive matter, this pitch is rather silly, if not ridiculous. House Republicans haven't passed any major economic legislation, so there's nothing to take credit for, exactly. Indeed, throughout 2011, if one asked GOP officials why the economy was so weak, they'd point to taxes, "Obamacare," and regulations. But in 2012, tax rates remain the same; the Affordable Care Act remains in place; and the identical regulations are being enforced in identical ways. By Republican reasoning, the strengthening recovery should be literally impossible.

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http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/27/10885941-the-economic-pivot-from-assigning-blame-to-taking-credit

[el_bryanto]

1. I would guess the argument would be that they put the brakes on "runaway socialism"

and created a context in which businesses felt safe to invest again.

Nonsense, but that's the logic I would guess.