'Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?'

Ronald Reagan’s poignant question to then President Jimmy Carter during a debate in 1980 clinched the presidential election. Carter presided over one of the worst economies. The economy had tanked and inflation had skyrocketed. Additionally, Iranian radicals had held 52 Americans hostage for almost a year. But that’s nothing compared to our nation’s economic malaise brought to you courtesy of Obama’s presidency.

Compared to the current economy, Carter was presiding over a picnic.

The first political ad for Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign was just released. It’s a pre-emptive measure. It’s also a powerful ad that will now set a new standard for the GOP.

Skyrocketing Debt.The national debt doubled from $5 trillion to $10 trillion on Bush’s watch. This was outrageous. This increase in national debt additionally increases interest payments to the bond holders. Americans must then pay the extra taxes just to satisfy the increased interest payments to satisfy those bond holders. In fairness, much of the increased debt was associated with 9/11 and the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which, at the outset, had bi-partisan congressional approval. Even so, there were critics of Bush from those fiscally responsible players on the left, “We pay in interest four times more than we spend on education and four times what it will cost to cover 10 million children with health insurance for five years,” Pelosi sternly warned in 2007. “That’s fiscal irresponsibility.”

Obama, by comparison, went into an absolute spending frenzy and increased the debt to an unsustainable and new historical record. Pelosi, the left and their media echo are all silent. Obama maintained Bush’s wars and even started his own new and unpopular war in Libya. He did this without congressional approval or even consultation. More silence.

The Obama administration has already acknowledged that the national debt will total $15.476 trillion by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. This is the first time since WWII, that the debt will reach 102% percent of the gross domestic product. That’s not 102% of annual revenue to the US Treasury, that’s 102% of the sum total of all economic activity in this nation. This record was created by an spending spree primarily done under the guise of stimulating the economy. It hasn’t. It’s been an abject failure. The only stimulation happened to our Treasury’s printing presses, which are working printing money 24/7. The economy is on life support and together with Obama’s policies of purposeful domestic uncertainty, increased taxes, outrageous deficit spending, increasing the national debt, anti-oil drilling, new business regulations, expanding a bloated bureaucracy, open borders, Obamacare and job killing initiatives-consumer spending is now anemic.

Economic uncertainty is rampant and unemployment rates are at historic levels.

When Mr. Obama was elected in November 2008, the unemployment rate stood at 6.8 percent, and the angry The left was wailing and gnashing their teeth. However, under Obama’s clever spending initiatives, unemployment promptly skyrocketed to 10.1 percent in October 2009; levels not seen since the great depression. This was a nearly 50% spike in the unemployment rate. The just released Gallup Poll finds the US unemployment rate has hardly changed; it’s now at 10% with underemployment at a whopping 19.3%.

How do Republicans take back the White House?

Bring back Reagan’s theme, ” Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?”

It’s not a hard question to answer for most Americans. The Washington Examiner reports that “Obama’s current spending proposals, Republicans point out, will cost more than the United States spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the general war on terror and Hurricane Katrina in the last seven years. And that’s before you throw in the $2 trillion fiscal stabilization plan.”

Unemployment increased

Deficit Increased

National debt increased

Consumer satisfaction is down

Optimism about the future is down.

Foreign Policy is out of control.

Our allies have been either, ignored, insulted or spurned while our enemies are dined, courted and embraced. Foreign policy is in disarray. Israel has been rebuked numerous times, while the terrorism loving, Palestinian death-cult is embraced. Egypt’s Mubarak is bad and had to be taken out, but Syria’s terrorism-sponsoring and ruthless Assad is good and is now even a “reformer”, according to this administration.

If the Republicans can’t get a candidate to clearly articulate both Obama’s failures and a more optimistic vision for the future, it’s game over. It’ll be time for the GOP to collect all their marbles and go home.