The same people who blame Bush for higher gas prices resist allowing the president to do the things he can. This includes a suspension or reduction of taxes, permission to drill in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the outer continental shelf, and allowance for the construction of nuclear power plants -- a source, for example, of 75 percent of France's energy requirements.
Also, the anti-Bush mainstream media certainly help stir up economic pessimism. Economic news under a Republican stewardship gets reported one way, and another way when a Democrat sits in the White House. Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog, writes, "During the Clinton years, network journalists argued (correctly) that strong economic growth, a rising stock market, low unemployment and low inflation were the benchmark indicators of a good economy. Today, economic growth is a phenomenal 4.8 percent, the stock market has been climbing for three straight years, and inflation and unemployment are both low.
"But instead of trumpeting the amazing 'Bush economy,' TV news has downplayed this recent good news, while hyping the bad news of rising fuel costs. Indeed, a new Media Research Center study suggests the broadcast networks are not just noting the discontent about prices, but actively stoking public outrage."
Newspaper headlines help to define and shape views on our economy. Two professors, John Lott, economist and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and Kevin A. Hassett, the institute's director of economic policy studies, looked at newspaper articles on the economy. They wrote, "We found that newspaper headlines reporting economic news on unemployment, gross domestic product (GDP), retail sales and durable goods tended to be much more frequently negative when a Republican was in the White House. And this was true even after accounting for the economic numbers on which the stories were based and how those numbers were changing over time."
So bad economic news becomes less bad economic news with a Democrat sitting in the White House. With a Republican in the White House, however, good economic news becomes less good, and bad becomes even worse.
Lynne Cheney, the vice president's wife, put it as well as anybody when she said, for the left, the president "can do no right." |