There seems to be a lot of discussion on the left regarding whether liberals are doing Obama a disservice by pointing out the areas where he has fallen short and ignoring the areas where he has been successful. It's clear that he has had a number of successes--Affordable Care being the most important. However, for all the heavyweights on his economic team, with respect to economic policy, his administration went with what they thought they could get rather than what was needed. Did they really believe that what they were asking for would solve the problem? Time has shown this to be a dumb strategy. There were plenty of people within and without his administration who argued for more stimulus. One could have expected the Fed to have its head in the sand, so fiscal policy was pretty much on its own. The net result has been far too little, leading opponents to be able to say: "See, fiscal policy doesn't work." The worst possible result--for the economy and for the Democrats in the midterm elections. It's surprising that Democrats couldn't remember that "It's the economy, stupid."
Epitaph For An Administration - Paul Krugman
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