Fox News Sunday Panel Questions Whether Obama Can Successfully Run With Bad Economy In His Purview
President Obama has been arguing recently that not only is the economy going to take more time to come away from the crevasse, but that it would take more than one term and even more than one president to deal with the problem. Chris Wallace reminded viewers that Obama said himself he would be a one-term president if the economy didn’t turn around, and discussed Obama’s handling of the crisis and what it means for his reelection chances with the panel.
Paul Gigot saw this as a sign that the president understands he cannot run on the economy this time around, and so Obama’s strategy in 2012 may be to go after Congressional Republicans and the rich, among other groups. With roughly 41 percent of voters saying Obama deserves to be reelected, Mara Liasson predicted Obama’s best hope is to convince those who are currently against him that he needs another term to continue fixing the economy and deal with other major issues, pointing to low consumer confidence as one explanation for the president’s low poll numbers.
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Liz Cheney argued that increased regulation of the financial sector, health care reform, and the stimulus plan have all had a negative impact on the economy and didn’t address the issue of entitlement reform. She criticized his foreign policy for being weak, and when Wallace brought up Obama’s “ask Osama bin Laden” quote, Cheney agreed that taking out the al-Qaeda leader was important but now the focus is on Iraq and Afghanistan. Or rather, the peripheral focus. Cheney claimed that Obama’s foreign policy doesn’t get enough coverage because of how much negative press he gets on the economy.
Wallace couldn’t help but note the president’s various political strategies over the past year, from his phrase “winning the future” in the 2011 State of the Union to his mission to “be the adult in the room” during the debt ceiling debate, and now as a “champion of the middle class.” Juan Williams took issue with Cheney’s earlier assertion and argued that most Americans give the president high marks on national security issues. But shifting back to the economy, Williams agreed with the president’s strategy to go after Republicans for opposing some of the policies he has proposed that many economists have argued would be beneficial to the economy.
Watch the video below, courtesy of Fox:
