why don't you throw in the Clinton years
It was primarily a comparison of congresses, not presidents.
If it was presidents, I'd throw in Reagan. And perhaps include Reagan from the end of the recession at the beginning of his term if I was comparing him to Clinton, but not Obama.
Obama and Reagan both dealt with severe recessions primarily do to factors beyond their control at the beginning of their terms, Clinton's presidency was timed beautifully to make his stats better, with a recession ending just before he came in to office, and one starting, or at least getting solidly underway, after he left office. Reagan perhaps had more ability to avoid or lessen the recession than Obama (depending on how much his switching from supporting, to undermining Greenspan's high interest rates would have delayed the recession), but its a good thing he didn't, as those interest rate increases where vital to controlling inflation. If Reagan could have and did effectively broken the Fed (which he didn't, didn't try to, and maybe could not have no matter how much skill or effort he put in to the attempt.), than we might have been setting ourselves up for hyperinflation. |
