Hillary Clinton Is Right: The Country Needs A President That Will Build On and Extend President Obama's Successful Policy and Achievements.

President Obama's policies reversed the economic melt down and record job losses of the previous republican administration, reduced deficit spending that was at record levels and reduced the unemployment rate to 5%.  The ACA was passed that reduced the uninsured rolls by millions.  The increase in total federal spending under Obama has been much less than under President George W. Bush, his father and the Reagan administration.  And the republican's in congress opposed all the President's economic plans that worked.  In other words the republican party had nothing to do with the economic recovery.

The President's policies reduced the country's military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan even though the republicans wanted our military to have an active combat role there.  As a result of the President's policies our military are not serving 4 or 5 tours in the middle east any more and our military deaths have declined significantly.  The country's policy in the middle east is the right one despite the negative attitude of the republican party and its Presidential candidates.  The U.S. is working once again with our allies in the region, something that was lacking in the previous administration.

Clinton is the best candidate to build on those successful policies, have them produce better results for the average American and move the country forward in the right direction.  The republican noise machine are still trying to sell the people their same old failed policies of trickle down economics and their leading Presidential candidate Donald Trump in a so called foreign policy speech last week was pathetic.  It was a repeat of George W. Bush's policy of go it alone against everyone and so called tough talk with no bite.

For the record, there has been no republican administration that created as many new jobs as the democratic administration it followed in the last 50 years.  There has been no republican administration that left office with a smaller deficit than when they took office in the last 50 years.  The last republican President to balance the federal budget was Dwight Eisenhower in 1960.  There has been no republican administration where the unemployment rate stayed below or where it was when they took office during their term in office in the last 50 years.  There has been no republican administration where total federal spending decreased year to year in the last 50 years.  President George W. Bush had the worst job creation record since the great depression after his first 4 years in office and also after his full 8 years in office.

 But the record does show that the democratic administrations of Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama did accomplish a combination of all those things the republican administrations of Nixon-Ford, Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43 never did.  More Americans have been killed in terrorists attacks at home and abroad on the republican watch while those administrations were trying to talk tough.  Democratic administrations have kept America safer.  North Korea tested its first atomic weapon on President George W. Bush's watch.  America was told we would be welcomed as liberators when we invaded Iraq but it never happened and 13 years after the invasion Iraq is still destabilized.  President Reagan traded arms for hostages with Iran after his tough talk of never to negotiate with terrorists.

Now comes Donald Trump, the news media's favorite Presidential candidate, especially cable news with his tough talk.  Instead of talking about the threat of spreading nuclear weapons he said he would urge South Korea and Japan to build their own nuclear capacity for self defense and that he would use nuclear weapons against ISIS in the middle east and that he would defeat them quickly.  What do these republicans eat that make them try to talk tough only to fall flat on their face.  Trumps policy of cutting taxes for Corporate America and the wealthy to spur the economy and create an unbelievable amount of jobs can be found in the library under "failed economic policy of republican administrations."

The America that the republicans try to paint with all their negative rhetoric is not the America I see or live in.  America is still the greatest country in the world to live and breathe in and to raise a family.  President Obama and the democratic controlled congress early on took the steps needed to bring the economy and jobs back after the worst recession since the great depression.  It will now fall to the next President to take the next step with the economy to raise the wages of middle class workers that can be sustained and lasting.  And the record shows democratic administrations accomplish that much better than republican administrations.  

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Note: See my previous 3 part commentary and conclusion titled, The U.S. Economy:  Which Party Performs Best.   Initial date 1/27/08