MJ: Obama Reflects On Term, Sort Of

If Barack Obama holds off a determined and extraordinarily well-financed challenge from Mitt Romney and wins a second term in November it will be in spite of his accomplishments and first term record, not because of them. With 112 days to go until the election, Obama is on the attack and not above the fray . From a political strategy standpoint he may have no other option if he hopes to win. Romney is correct in his basic assessment of the Obama strategy: the president and his team need to rip Romney , not run on the first term record. Obama has presided over a dismal economy – much of which he inherited – yet it’s clear that after three-plus years he owns the unemployment rate and the uncertainty felt in the country. The president had the guts and decisiveness to get bin Laden, but Syria or Pakistan or Afghanistan could blow sky high any minute. He passed historic health  insurance reform, but outsourced any positive message about that accomplishment to people like Nancy Pelosi, who took a polarizing issue and made it worse. To say that Obama’s term has been a mixed bag is to be generous / Marc Johnson , The Johnson Report. More here.

Question: Do you blame President Obama for the continuing recession?