Mitt Romney sat down with CNBC's Larry Kudlow, and made a curious observation. He said voters who want a strong economy should vote for him, but Americans "ought to give, whichever president is going to be elected, at least six months or a year to get those policies in place."
At first blush, that may sound fairly reasonable. A president takes office, he or she needs time to put a team in place, craft an agenda, and get to work. What's more, we generally don't see the results of economic policies immediately; the agenda needs time to take effect. In Romney's mind, six months to a year seems fair.
But let's go ahead and apply this standard to President Obama, who took office in the midst of the worst global economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. Hey, look, here's a new chart I put together.
Throughout the presidential campaign, Romney has said the clock should start in February 2009, Obama's first month in office. If that's fair -- if the president deserves the blame for every job lost on his 11th day in office -- it's true that under Obama, the economy is still in a deep hole and hasn't fully recovered from the losses of early 2009.
But look what happens when we start the clock, as Romney suggests, six months to a year after President Obama was sworn in. In fact, if we don't hold Obama's first year against him, the economy has added over 3.7 million jobs overall during his presidency, and over 4.2 million in the private sector.
That's not the count by my standard; that's the count by Romney's standard.
What's more, I'd be remiss if I neglected to mention this great video put together by our friends at "Up with Chris Hayes," judging Obama's jobs record by the standard Romney applied to his term as governor. At this rate, I half-expect Romney to simply endorse Obama and celebrate the president's economic successes.
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Not all presidents should get six months to a year. Some presidents, like George W. Bush, should get 20 to life. And if he ever visits a country that prosecutes war crimes, he will.
romney is B.S. i think gop should look for another candidate other than him cuz he does not even deserve to be in the same room with pres.obama. i just can't imagine how their debates would turn out if it happens at all. A GENIUS (OBAMA) VS. A MORON (ROMNEY).
I think Rachael and her team should put together a comprehensive piece about what we really know about Romney. He says very little about himself and more about what he exactly will do and not the opposite of what Obama has done. Then when he opens his mouth, he just helps Obama by saying things like this as if someone isn't going to look into this.
Can't wait to see what Obama can with 4 more years! Oh wait, yes I can. I mean he's done so much with his current term, right???? Any way you look at it our country is going down the drain and our political "system" is a laughing joke.
If this is the case, giving the new President six months to a year to settle in, why is Romney making it a campaign pledge to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act on his first day in office, which only Congress can do anyway? Also consider that Romney's stance on just about everything is to elect him first and then he'll tell us what his policies are going to be. No way I'd vote for him just on that basis. I want to know now.