Blame Bush, And Other Great Examples of Leadership [Reader Post]

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A favorite excuse of the lefties who try to justify President Obama's dismal economic record is to repeat his refrain of complaining about the economy he inherited. I tried to think back on the many other great leaders who were still blaming their predecessor from four years ago and couldn't come up with any. So I tried thinking up some hypothetical situations where other leaders might have tried to blame their predecessors from from years past…

Abraham Lincoln, after the Union Army's defeat at Gettysburg:

“My fellow Americans, I must inform you of the defeat that the Union armies suffered at the hands of the Confederacy at the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg. While some may blame my continuing to follow the policies of failed generals we must not forget the challenges I was left by the last administration. No other American president has had to deal with a country on the verge of secession when coming into office. Although my unwillingness to change tactics and replace failing generals has led to a series of defeats, this is no reason to abandon our failed policies.”

Ronald Reagan, while campaigning for re-election against Walter Mondale:

“As you consider who to elect in the 1984 election remember the effort that I've made. Even though my Keynesian stimulus policies have failed to turn around the economy bear in mind what I inherited – the high unemployment and inflation gave me that stagflation that no president in modern

history has had to deal with. Even though the economy is in bad shape, I assure you that more of the same for another four years will work.”

George W. Bush, while campaigning for re-election against John Kerry:

“I've faced many challenges when I came into office. No president before me inherited a financial downfall like the bursting of the dot com bubble. I resisted the partisan calls of my own party to reduce taxes and put money back into the hands of the American people to stimulate our economy, although I will continue to work with Trent Lott to show that even Republicans can spend like liberal Democrats. The terrible events of 9/11 certainly did not help our efforts toward recovery, and even though we still have not recovered from the downturn that I inherited I promise that four more years of the same will work.”

General Han Solo, after the Rebellion's defeat at Endor

“Although our inability to adjust our failed tactics that led us into the trap over Endor, I faced the challenge of inheriting a rebel alliance that had suffered a crushing defeat on Hoth. Keep in mind that it probably wasn't a good idea to promote someone to general who never had any meaningful leadership role in his life.

I can only hope that Emperor Palpatine will not blame me for things that happened while I was frozen in carbonite.”

With Obama winning on Tuesday, and as ridiculous as this post may have been, I'm going to have a hard time writing the follow up in 2016 finding a leader complaining about what he inherited eight years ago.

Cross posted from Brother Bob's Blog

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You won’t have to do that because by 2016 the economy will have improved and their will be another Democrat in the white house, the Republican Party will have sunk deeper into its death, and you and others like you will still be writing web columns like this one, about the past—because that’s the reactionary’s only reality, the past.