Obama Faces Worst-Case Scenario for 2012
On Wednesday, Economic Forecaster-in-Chief Barack Obama said, “I don’t think we’re in danger of another recession.” Shades of John McCain’s “The fundamentals of our economy are strong.”
On Thursday, the stock market – freaked out by Europe’s spiraling debt crisis and a shockingly weak Philadelphia Fed manufacturing report – plunged 4.5 percent. In an unintentional rejoinder to Obama, investment bank Morgan Stanley opined that the United States was “dangerously close” to falling back into recession.
When American presidents win reelection, they usually win by a heftier margin than the first time around. Narrower victories are rare, just three or four depending if you’re looking at the electoral or popular vote. When voters break against an incumbent, it’s usually fatal for the guy in the Oval Office. And right now, things are breaking bad for Obama. Really bad. Gallup has been pegging his approval rating right around 40 percent, even sometimes dipping to 39 percent. Regarding the economy in particular, Obama registers just 26 percent approval, his lowest rating ever and way down from a high of 59 percent in February 2009.
And it may be about to get a whole lot worse for the Obama 2012 campaign. The White House’s worst-case scenario for the economy on Election Day next year has become Wall Street’s baseline scenario. After looking at a string of weak economic reports and Europe’s growing fear of debt meltdown and contagion, JPMorgan – led by Obama pal Jamie Dimon – has just come out with a politically poisonous forecast.
And now… the rest of the story. …..
Harold
