The methane from Ronnie's bowels caused brain damage.

several commentators are actually declaring that Obama must have lied on the numbers because of how convenient the timing of this report is.

When they put out there talking points

The very high inflation rates of the 70s and early 80s had finally begun to fall-- thanks to Paul Volcker. The misery index (unemployment+inflation) was something like half as high as its peak. The most interesting thing though is that the misery index today is lower than Oct 1984!

for many years, that it seemed like it was built into the economy and would be a fact of life forever. And so when inflation precipitously dropped to 4.something percent, it was like a miracle.

Oh and the great stock market boom started in August 1982. In 1984 (the election year) it was up about 60% (S&P 500), and setting new record highs almost every week. This move after the stock market had basically been flat since the late 1960's, and every "smart" person in the late 70's and 1980-1982 was talking about the death of equities. (Whereas, though we've had a great run-up since Obama took office (about 72%), we are still well below where the stock market was in March 2000 and October 2007, to pick two local peaks (the latter is the all-time high, slightly beating the March 2000 level)

On Edit: added the stock market paragraph.