Two headlines listed one above the other at RealClearPolitics
Obama's Economic Triumph - by Michael Tomasky, The Daily Beast
Manufacturing Declines to a 4 Year Low - by Michael Fletcher, The Washington Post
A tale of two Michaels. One (Tomasky) is a purely leftwing political piece, crowing that the economy is all but booming again. Obama's the architect of this wonderful recovery of course. It would have happened so much sooner had it not been for those evil Republicans.
The second (Fletcher) is mostly a news report. Although avoiding the temptation to be overtly political, the author still does his best to put a good face on the report. (Finding somebody to say it's merely a "blip")
To the extent the economy is marginally better than it was in the dark days of 2008-2009, does Obama deserve the credit? Is the manufacturing decline a signal that we're going to end the summer in another recession, or was it correctly characterized as a "blip"?
I suppose to those who are gainfully employed, the economy is pretty good. To those who aren't, it's not so good. My own observation is that it's certainly better, but in no way would I characterize it as a strong recovery. The weak recovery characterization is the most accurate.
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