5 Ways President Obama is far more effective than President Reagan

http://www.forwardprogressives.com/5-ways-barack-obama-better-far-effective-president-ronald-reagan/

5. The Deficit: Perhaps the biggest myth about Reagan is that he was “fiscally conservative.” When, in fact, deficits skyrocketed during his presidency, nearly tripling our national debt – something that this nation had really never seen before. Which is why I’m always astonished that he’s considered the “fiscally conservative icon” when he was really the first president this country had who absolutely blew up our national debt. Meanwhile, President Obama has reduced our deficit by $1 trillion. And while our debt remains high, the bulk of that growth during his presidency is tied to our economic crash and the steps he had to take to save this country from eight years of Bush’s incompetence.

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3. Terrorism and the Middle East: While Oliver North took the fall for Iran-Contra, you’re a fool if you don’t believe the Reagan administration knew about this. Republicans are losing their minds over a nuclear deal with Iran, could you imagine if he was caught selling them weapons? Not only that, but the Reagan administration helped Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War. Yes, the same dictator we ended up fighting two wars against. Then let’s not forget about that little thing in Afghanistan. You know, the proxy war we fought where we ended up training and arming the “freedom fighters” that would ultimately become the Taliban – otherwise known as the terrorist organization that organized the 9/11 attacks. While the Middle East is currently a mess (mostly due to the Iraq War and the complete incompetence of the handling of that quagmire), I’m not sure if anyone can top Reagan helping Saddam Hussein and basically training and arming the individuals who would eventually become the Taliban. Meanwhile, on Obama’s watch the worst thing most Republicans have is that he’s only ordered several thousand airstrikes against ISIS; he carried out the SOFA agreement Bush agreed to with the Iraqi government; he brokered a nuclear deal with Iran and several of our allies; and the attack on the Benghazi embassy where four Americans died.

Read more at: http://www.forwardprogressives.com/5-ways-barack-obama-better-far-effective-president-ronald-reagan/
1. Unemployment: Even though President Obama took over an economy that was in far worse condition than what Reagan did, on this president’s watch, the unemployment rate only reached 10 percent. Whereas under Reagan, unemployment hit a high of 10.8 percent. Not only that, but once President Obama got the economy heading on the right path, we’ve seen a record-setting streak of private sector job growth, blowing away anything we experienced during the Reagan administration. Now I know what many conservatives will say, “But that’s because more people have dropped out of the labor pool because they’ve given up looking for work.” Okay, that’s a half-true statement, but not entirely accurate. While it’s true that we’ve seen a spike in the number of Americans no longer looking for work, most of that spike is due to baby boomers hitting retirement age. This isn’t complicated: 2015 – 65 (retirement age) = 1950. The “baby boomer” generation is considered anyone born between 1946-1964. They’re not “giving up looking for work” – they’re retiring. And one other thing, under Reagan the unemployment rate never fell below 5.5%. Right now, under President Obama, we’re at 5.3%.

Read more at: http://www.forwardprogressives.com/5-ways-barack-obama-better-far-effective-president-ronald-reagan/