Lagging Indicator

IN early September, Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah was briefing his Republican colleagues about the economy. Bennett, the party’s chief deputy whip in the Senate and the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said that the stock market was doing well. Sen. George Voinovich, a Republican from Ohio, didn’t buy the happy talk. According to columnist Robert Novak, Voinovich told Bennett, “I don’t give a damn about the stock market. But I do care about jobs.”

Both political parties seem to share the conviction that for voters, the economic number that counts is the unemployment rate. Consider the contrast that Democratic congressman Robert Menendez drew when President Bush called for tax cuts at the start of the year: “We stimulate the job market. The president’s plan stimulates the stock market.” Democrats are chortling—chortling gravely, as one must in politics—that 2.7 million Americans have lost their jobs since Bush took office. Mark Warner, the Democratic governor of Virginia, said in August that “this nation is on track for the worst job-creation record since the Great Depression. No president since Herbert Hoover 70 years ago has actually lost jobs over the course of his term.”

About the Author

Ramesh Ponnuru

Ramesh Ponnuru is the editor of National Review, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Featured Tags

Presidential Election

Gallup

IN early September, Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah was briefing his Republican colleagues about the economy. Bennett, the party’s chief deputy whip in the Senate and the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said that the stock market was doing well. Sen. George Voinovich, a Republican from Ohio, didn’t buy the happy talk. According to columnist Robert Novak, Voinovich told Bennett, “I don’t give a damn about the stock market. But I do care about jobs.”

Both political parties seem to share the conviction that for voters, the economic number that counts is the unemployment rate. Consider the contrast that Democratic congressman Robert Menendez drew when President Bush called for tax cuts at the start of the year: “We stimulate the job market. The president’s plan stimulates the stock market.” Democrats are chortling—chortling gravely, as one must in politics—that 2.7 million Americans have lost their jobs since Bush took office. Mark Warner, the Democratic governor of Virginia, said in August that “this nation is on track for the worst job-creation record since the Great Depression. No president since Herbert Hoover 70 years ago has actually lost jobs over the course of his term.”