25-04-2020, 18:31
(25-04-2020 14:26 )Goodfella3041 Wrote: [ -> ]I think too many people are under the impression that the President of the United States has a significant and direct bearing on the economy and they vote accordingly. And that may have been true in the past, but I personally think it's a myth in the present.
A hyper-complex, globalised, multi-trillion dollar economy doesn't dance to the tune of any president. Clinton simply managed the Reagan/Bush economy; 'W' managed the Clinton economy; Obama manage the 'W' economy; and Trump is managing the Obama economy.
Trump inherited a strong economy and he managed to not fuck it up. He entertained his base and distracted the media with porn stars, gaffs, impeachments and investigations, while McConnell and Graham busied themselves with gutting health care, protecting gun rights, filling the benches with pro-life, anti-immigration judges, eliminating environmental regs and lowering taxes for rich people. And Trump was waltzing into re-election.
Then this happened.
This is when America needed a real president. It needed a 'tear down this wall' and 'touched the face of God' Ronald Reagan; it needed the post-9/11 Bush; the Obama we saw after Hurricane Sandy and every tragic school shooting. Someone to calm, console and inspire. Instead they have a nasty, dimwitted reality TV star. A crisis like this needs leadership and they have buffoon. (So do we, mind you, but that's a different post)
If the next election really is a referendum on his handling of covid-19, then I think he's toast. If it isn't, then he wins.
It is absolutely true to say that the real domestic power in The United States is Congress & not The President, as it should be the American system was set up to have 3 distinct branches to prevent a President from having too much power. The founders never imagined a time like we have today where ultra partisanship has meant that winning is more important that being right (something that The Bernie Bros & Cobrynistas have not realised as they think being 100% pure to their ideological dogma & losing is more important than appealing to a wider public winning & actually making a difference).
However The President does have a great deal of influence over the domestic agenda. They have their own policies that they want to enact & they have an administration that has a firm hand in doing so. The Affordable Care Act wasn't something that sprung up from Congress it came about with those in the Admin i.e Department of Health & Human Services working with Congressional leaders in order to craft a bill that would eventually go to the floor.
I would say that Presidents have more of a role that just managing their predecessor's economy. When Clinton left the US was running a budget surplus, when W left (thanks to 2 expensive middle eastern wars) The US was $10tn in debt & had a $1tn deficit. Obama turned the US economy around mainly through bailing out the automobile industry & The Recovery and Reinvestment Act which went through Congress but came form his Administration, leading to unprecedented economic growth & job creation.
