Umemployment Rate the Same Today as when Obama First Took Office

yes

Of course we should. The things that happened, happened. They aren't going to un-happen no matter what year it is.
That doesn't mean that Barack Obama isn't also creating and exasperating problems on his own.
But, the attempt by some, going back to the beginning of 2009, to shift the blame for Bush's shortcomings and their consequences onto Obama is partisan stupidity at it's worst.

The difference is that when he took office we were on a severe downward trend and now we are on an upward trend.

I am a bit of a shutterbug and I have long since abandoned the old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" a have replaced it with my own "few things lie as well as a picture". Pictures are a visual snapshot that are devoid of context. There is a fairly well knows photo of a dirty/greasy man standing in a shadow under a sign that says "no credit". Artisticly that says all sorts of things, but the fact is that it was just a mechanic adjusting a carborator and the sign just meant that he didn't accept credit cards. Likewise taking snapshots of statistical data leaves room for all sorts of creative conclusions, but when you look at the context of that data many of those conclusions are false.

questftbest said:

Jan 2009- 7.8% unemployed
Jan 2013- 7.8% unemployed

Should we still blame President Bush?

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Heck, you still hear people blaming Reagan. I expect the blame Bush mantra to be going on for the rest of my life.

Frankly, politics in the US has devolved into a team sport, with the masses of people just going with their "team" and putting little to no thought into the actual issues. That's why you see politicians being for things before they were against them, or political groups becoming virulently anti-something when they were pretty much for the exact same thing not so very long ago.

Guantanamo Bay used to be something you heard about on the news almost every day. Now? Nary a word. The Patriot Act? Pretty much all continued under Obama, but now we don't hear about it. Remember all of those KIA milestones we used to hear on the news? They pretty much quit reporting such things in 2009.

Here's the thing. I liked that we had political opposition that tried to hold the government accountable for such things as I wrote about in the above paragraph. But those people and organizations that made such a big deal about it have to been strangely and stunningly silent now that "their guy" is in the WH. Which leads me to the conclusion that they were never really serious about it, and only cared about scoring political points for the sake of elections.

questftbest said:

Unbelievable how the disciples of Obama follow him no matter what.

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It's unbelievable how you can either not look at charts before creating these silly posts, or how you think you're justified in creating them without understanding the charts you're looking at.

US unemployment rate for the last 10 years (through 2012)

Would you look at that - just like in your other thread about gas prices, we can see that things were changing very quickly right as Obama took office, and now they're stabilizing (and in the case of unemployment, improving).

I think you ought to study these issues a little more before trying to pick fights. These aren't complicated issues, but it's pretty clear that you don't know what you're talking about.

-Dan.

MSBS said:

Heck, you still hear people blaming Reagan. I expect the blame Bush mantra to be going on for the rest of my life.

Frankly, politics in the US has devolved into a team sport, with the masses of people just going with their "team" and putting little to no thought into the actual issues. That's why you see politicians being for things before they were against them, or political groups becoming virulently anti-something when they were pretty much for the exact same thing not so very long ago.

Guantanamo Bay used to be something you heard about on the news almost every day. Now? Nary a word. The Patriot Act? Pretty much all continued under Obama, but now we don't hear about it. Remember all of those KIA milestones we used to hear on the news? They pretty much quit reporting such things in 2009.

Here's the thing. I liked that we had political opposition that tried to hold the government accountable for such things as I wrote about in the above paragraph. But those people and organizations that made such a big deal about it have to been strangely and stunningly silent now that "their guy" is in the WH. Which leads me to the conclusion that they were never really serious about it, and only cared about scoring political points for the sake of elections.

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Pretty much sums it up.

questftbest said:

Unbelievable how the disciples of Obama follow him no matter what. Four years of a horrible economy and the Dems credo is that Obama has nothing to do with the suffering. Black people have been hit worst of all and even Obama doesn't seem to care in the slightest. He is a cold man.

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Horrible economy as evidenced by an unemployment rated that TANKED and has recovered to where it was when he was finally able to do something about it.

It appears as though you've kinda undermined the OP in which you praised Obama.

MSBS:

Guantanamo Bay used to be something you heard about on the news almost every day. Now? Nary a word. The Patriot Act? Pretty much all continued under Obama, but now we don't hear about it. Remember all of those KIA milestones we used to hear on the news? They pretty much quit reporting such things in 2009.

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You mean like there was significant numbers to report?


As for inflated numbers in Afghanistan... well, I guess it's how you look at it. There was no justifiable and imminent reason for the US to invade Iraq, especially when it was trying to fight the actual terrorists in Afghanistan. That Bush was ineffectual and, appeared to be fighting little more than some kind of token war in Afghanistan, could speak to the low numbers. Obama's numbers with deaths have CERTAINLY been under reported and I agree there is no excuse for that, but it appears he's probably trying to fight the Taliban.

Here's the thing. I liked that we had political opposition that tried to hold the government accountable for such things as I wrote about in the above paragraph. But those people and organizations that made such a big deal about it have to been strangely and stunningly silent now that "their guy" is in the WH. Which leads me to the conclusion that they were never really serious about it, and only cared about scoring political points for the sake of elections.

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Well, the assumption there is that they are silent now that "their guy" is in office.
I don't know if you noticed but a few years ago, America went through a bit of an economic poop throwing contest. Well, that has distracted the American public and the media into throwing it's focus over there. I'm sorry that you are not getting your doses of casualty reports that you so treasured.
I remember when it all started to go down when Bush was in office, I heard fewer and fewer news reports about battles and casualties and more and more about housing, bubbles, banks etc. I and others agree that it is too bad that Guantanamo and the PATRIOT ACT are not being appropriately treated as the Prez said he would AND that they are not getting as much of a media storm as they used to. Although I would be curious how significant the downward trend of coverage actually is.
I don't think there is a conspiracy there so much as logical, and rational explanation. But, choose as you will....

iluvatar5150 said:

I think you ought to study these issues a little more before trying to pick fights. These aren't complicated issues, but it's pretty clear that you don't know what you're talking about.

-Dan.

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Dan, you are asking an awful lot.

Does time magic away causes?

If your plane is in a nose dive towards earth because of a bad pilot and bad weather, you can't blame the second pilot as he/she tries to save the plane. It will take a while to struggle against the bad weather to get back to the same altitude again.

Some Republicans make it sound like Obama could just click his fingers to make everything ok again, but he just chose not to.

cow451 said:

Dan, you are asking an awful lot.

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Oh, I'm not expecting much.

-Dan.

questftbest said:

Jan 2009- 7.8% unemployed
Jan 2013- 7.8% unemployed

Should we still blame President Bush?

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Wow. Using your two data points President Obama has held unemployment steady for four years. Not bad!

MSBS said:

Heck, you still hear people blaming Reagan. I expect the blame Bush mantra to be going on for the rest of my life.

Frankly, politics in the US has devolved into a team sport, with the masses of people just going with their "team" and putting little to no thought into the actual issues. That's why you see politicians being for things before they were against them, or political groups becoming virulently anti-something when they were pretty much for the exact same thing not so very long ago.

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Okay then, at what point do you deem it proper to no longer blame a president for the consequences of his policies?
Are we to stop blaming Obama for what he did the moment he's out of office?
You're right, politics in the US is largely tribal nonsense, but it sure seems to me like the main perps are right wingers who've slipped into a never land of Reagan worship and Bush denialism.
Overall, I've been pleasantly surprised to see how many liberals have stuck to their principals and oppose Obama on the same things they opposed Bush on a few years back.

The official unemployment rate matches when Obama took office, the real unemployment rate is significantly higher than when Obama took office.

questftbest said:

Unbelievable how the disciples of Obama follow him no matter what. Four years of a horrible economy and the Dems credo is that Obama has nothing to do with the suffering. Black people have been hit worst of all and even Obama doesn't seem to care in the slightest. He is a cold man.

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Maybe you could answer what people actually wrote in response to your OP?

It looks like you had this reply ready from before you even made your first post.

questftbest said:

Jan 2009- 7.8% unemployed
Jan 2013- 7.8% unemployed

Should we still blame President Bush?

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Jan. 2002- 5.7% unemployed
Jan. 2009- 7.8% unemployed

Should we still blame President Bush?

cow451 said:

Jan. 2002- 5.7% unemployed
Jan. 2009- 7.8% unemployed

Should we still blame President Bush?

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All of these are counted in the U6 unemployment rate as also reported by the BLS. Because the primary change during the month was that 582,000 on net shifted from unemployed to employed part time for economic reasons, this U6 unemployment rate remained unchanged last month at 14.7%. The total suffering this U6 unemployment was 23.2 million.
Moreover, even this doesn’t nearly fully account for the 8.2 million Americans who have given up hope during the Obama term of office, and dropped out of the work force altogether. When you are considered out of the work force, you are no longer counted as unemployed, even though you still do not have a job, and you still want and are available for work.
Obama's Real Unemployment Rate Is 14.7%, And A Recession's On The Way - Forbes

Considering the fact that our unemployment is much higher than 7.8% and the Bush unemployment rates only spiked in late 2007 to 2009, (after Democrats controlled both houses of congress), I'll say that all this is demonstrating is that the Bush administration was significantly more honest to the American people than the Obama Administration.

questftbest said:

Unbelievable how the disciples of Obama follow him no matter what.

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There are some perks that come with it. Like knowing he had women in his Cabinet.

We just need to sit aside party lines and look at facts. Unemployment is actually 14 or 15% when you put the figures in that belong, like those stopped looking, those that have run out of benefits.
Triple A credit rating gone. - Obama spends too much, regulates too much, borrows too much. A very devisive president, pitting party against party, Taxes too much - we will soon run out of other people's money. Wants the people depending on the government - the more people on the dole - the more control he has.

He says one thing and does another and no one ever holds him accountable. You will not pay one dime more in taxes - right - that really worked didn't it. Your healthcare won't cost you more - it will decrease - it has now raised $2,500 - that really worked.

He won't allow drilling on public lands - all the drilling being done is on private lands.

They are not talking about taking our 401K plans and IRA's and give you back when you retire what they think you should get. Wants to take our guns little by little.

Approval of abortions - gays and making churches go against their beliefs.

Won't even go into Fast & Furious, Libya, drones without Congress' approval, going against the Constitution on many occasions.

No matter what he does - it's ok with 47 % of the American people - I don't think you can blame Bush for that.