Truman's Conscience

Final New Hampshire Primary Poll & The Economy

Joe Sudbay via AmericaBlog relates the final Reuters/Zogby poll through yesterday in New Hampshire. No surprises except maybe McCain opening up a wider lead on Romney. With the MSM convinced Hillary’s campaign is imploding her press coverage is only going to get worse having a drag on any momentum she needs to get moving. Her campaign is already acknowledging placing second. She won't be able to claim an aura of the "Comeback Kid" status ala her husband in '92 when he placed second to the late Paul Tsongus. The dynamic here is not the same. Obama’s whole campaign aura just breathes new and fresh perspectives on problems that have gone on for decades (i.e. medical coverage & prescription drugs). There is no doubt now he’s the frontrunner for the nomination. It will be fun to watch as Obama rolls onward. He will hit that inevitable bump and a slight derailment that all campaigns go through. It won't be important what that derailment is, or what caused it, what's important will be how he handles it. That will be interesting to watch.

Americablog is just full of great stuff this morning. Via Chris in Paris we have a great post on Bushian economics and the imploding middle class. Chris sites The Gavel where you can see a collection of quotes from the WH on the economy and how they match up with reality. It would be comical if it weren’t so tragic for the working families and those struggling to get ahead. Let’s just take a look at one sample of the delusional disconnect spouted from the White House:

PRESIDENT BUSH:
“And [my economic] plan worked. If you think about where we were coming out of 2001 and where we are today, you can’t help but say the plan worked; cutting taxes helped stimulate economic growth.” [12/17/07]
COMMERCE SECRETARY CARLOS M. GUTIERREZ:
“Whenever someone loses a job, it is tough on them and their family. So we are not complacent and firmly believe it’s important that we continue to promote pro-growth policies such as making the tax cuts permanent…” [1/4/08]

No matter how hard it’s raining outside, in the Bush White House it’s always a beautiful sunny day, isn’t it? Except outside in the real world it’s an entirely different reality:

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com:
“This is unambiguously negative…The economy is on the edge of recession, if we’re not already engulfed in one.” [1/5/08]
Neal Soss, chief economist at Credit Suisse Group, Inc.:
“There’s nothing heartwarming about this report…It confirms what economists have been worried about, which is a broad-based economic slowdown.” [1/5/08]

This site is a must read but fair warning, do so at the risk of your own sanity. Its all in The Gavel.