Despite the media massaging of the 4.2 % growth rate last quarter, the economic recovery is now undeniable. Says Max:
I don’t do economic predictions, but if I had to bet, I’d say the economy has turned around. The easiest criticism of Bush economic policy — the lack of job growth — may no longer be available.
Not that there aren’t still those out there who hope people remain unemployed so that the Democrats can achieve some political gain:
We liberals would like to think that the election is going to turn (or can be made to turn) on the state of the economy, or perhaps on favored social issues like education or healthcare. This is dreamland. The economy is going to do whatever the economy does, and right now it looks like it will be bad enough that Kerry has a chance to win but good enough that it won’t hurt Bush too badly. Relying on that to win the election would be foolish.
Of course- you can still hang your electoral hopes on bad things happening in Iraq:
Survey results for the past several months have been clear: Bush’s approval ratings for handling the war have gone down, people increasingly believe it was a mistake to invade Iraq, and sentiment is moving in the direction of bringing the troops home. But this hasn’t helped Kerry. It does give him an opening, but by itself it’s not enough for people to have doubts about Bush; they also have to believe that Kerry is likely to do a better job.