Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:11 pm
Memo to Republicans: Calling Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama is not an insult, and it’s probably a bad idea to keep treating it like one.
This has been apparent for much of the last year, as more and more Americans say they approve of the job Obama has done. A new ABC News/Washington Post poll even shows his approval creeping toward the 60 percent mark.
But today’s release of brand new data from the Census Bureau confirms it: The Obama presidency has been a success. Numbers don’t lie.
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Calling Clinton a continuation of the last eight years is the single biggest compliment Republicans could give her.
According to the Census data, last year the U.S. saw the largest one-year decline in poverty since 1968, as the president noted today in his speech in Philadelphia. More than three million Americans were lifted out of that category in 2015.
The Census Bureau also found that, for the first time since before the Great Recession, the American middle class got a raise. The median income in 2015 was up 5.2 percent from the previous year, now standing at $56,516.
It should be noted that in both categories – poverty and income – all ethnic groups saw improvement. With respect to poverty, African Americans and Hispanics experienced the biggest declines.
The data also showed that the number of Americans without health insurance fell to 9.1 percent, as more people continue to acquire coverage through the Affordable Care Act.
Combine all of this good news – yes, Republicans, it’s good news – with the fact that the unemployment rate has been cut in half since the peak of the Great Recession and over 15 million new jobs have been created during the longest streak of job growth in history, and it’s clear that things are pretty good in the United States of America.
As the president himself said today: Thanks, Obama.
Despite this very clear evidence of the current president’s success, Donald Trump and his top surrogates have been running around the country telling voters that America is a hellscape on the brink of collapse. Hillary Clinton, they say, would only make it worse.
But the data shows that their poor attitude about America does not align with reality.
More Americans are working under Obama. Incomes are rising under Obama. Poverty is declining under Obama. Uninsured rates are falling under Obama.
If Hillary Clinton is going to be a third term of Barack Obama, then sign me up.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
