The GOP's Misplaced Rage. by Bruce Bartlett

Leading conservative economist Bruce Bartlett writes that the
Obama-hating town-hall mobs have it wrong—the person they
should be angry with left the White House seven months ago.

by Bruce Bartlett

Where is the evidence that everything would be better if
Republicans were in charge? Does anyone believe the economy
would be growing faster or that unemployment would be lower
today if John McCain had won the election? I know of no
economist who holds that view. The economy is like an ocean
liner that turns only very slowly. The gross domestic product
and the level of employment would be pretty much the same
today under any conceivable set of policies enacted since
Barack Obama’s inauguration.

In January, the Congressional Budget Office projected a
deficit this year of $1.2 trillion before Obama took office,
with no estimate for actions he might take. To a large extent,
the CBO’s estimate simply represented the $482 billion deficit
projected by the Bush administration in last summer’s budget
review, plus the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program,
which George W. Bush rammed through Congress in September over
strenuous conservative objections. Thus the vast bulk of this
year’s currently estimated $1.8 trillion deficit was
determined by Bush’s policies, not Obama’s.

I think conservative anger is misplaced. To a large extent,
Obama is only cleaning up messes created by Bush. This is not
to say Obama hasn’t made mistakes himself, but even they can
be blamed on Bush insofar as Bush’s incompetence led to the
election of a Democrat. If he had done half as good a job as
most Republicans have talked themselves into believing he did,
McCain would have won easily.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-08-12/the-gops-misplaced-rage/