Are You Better Off Today Than Four Years Ago?

Yesterday, on the Sunday show circuit, top Obama surrogate Gov. Martin O’Malley (D-MD) was asked whether we are better off today than we were four years ago. He apparently didn’t get the campaign memo that the answer was supposed to be yes, we are better off.

After either saying “no” or refusing to give a straight yes or no answer to Sunday show anchors when asked if Americans are better off today than they were four years ago, officials from Team Obama this morning changed their answers and enthusiastically offered a capital-Y “Yes.”

Fast-forward twenty-four hours and it was pretty obvious that Gov. O’Malley got the Cory Booker treatment.

We are clearly better off as a country because we’re now creating jobs rather than losing them. #DNC2012 #Forward

— Martin O’Malley (@GovernorOMalley) September 3, 2012

Democrats, including O’Malley, know that the answer to whether or not we are better of is demonstrably no. What is amazing is their penchant for blaming the previous administration for their mismanagement of the economy.

On Sunday, when asked whether the country was better off, O’Malley responded, “No, but that’s not the question of this election,” saying it was largely George W. Bush’s fault for the economic problems facing the country.

Of course, this has been their meme for the entire Obama presidency. Interestingly, this is not the first time Democrats have used the “blame the previous administration” strategy after nearly four years of failure. Scott Lincicome dug up the Democrats’ 1980 platform document and discovered this:

After nearly four years in office, we Democrats have not solved all of America’s problems.

Most of these problems we inherited. Eight years of Republican politics left this nation weak, rudderless, unrespected and deeply divided.

The comparison between President Obama and President Carter is one that has been made many times throughout Obama’s presidency. Now one more piece of evidence exists to further the notion that the two men’s presidencies, and their responses to the tough hands they were dealt, have much in common.

Democrats are not capable of accepting responsibility for their failed economic policies. This is true today, and it was true thirty-two years ago. It will be insightful to see how they utilize this strategy in their convention this week. It will be even more interesting to see if the American people buy into the “blame Bush” narrative.