Kristol Admits that Republicans Were Wrong to Blame Obama for the Stock Market

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:30 pm

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Could it really be that someone on Fox News admitted that they were wrong about President Barack Obama driving down the stock market? On Fox News Sunday, Bill Kristol admitted that he was wrong to blame Obama for the 20% drop in the stock market during the first month of his term. This was a popular GOP talking point that has been debunked by the market’s surge over the past month.

Here is the video courtesy of Think Progress:

Kristol said, “Republicans who were chortling over that 20 percent drop in the stock market the first month or two of [Obama’s] administration are going to be, fairly enough, hoist on our own petard by the fact that now Obama’s getting this big stock market rally. … I — no one should base anything on this forecast — but in my view the short term is surprisingly bullish, but medium-long term very worrisome.”

It was a silly criticism to begin with. The market isn’t partisan. It wasn’t going to turn around in one day based on the fact that Barack Obama won an election. It also was not voicing its disapproval of Obama by dropping. The market started to turn when the administration provided their plan to underwrite the selling of toxic assets. It has picked up steam as there have been small signs that the US might be getting close to seeing the end of the recession, and the situation with the banking system has finally stabilized.

Conservatives knew that they were making dubious claims when they advanced this argument, but they were/are desperately seeking some way to damage Obama’s popularity. This was a popular talking point with Congressional Republicans, Sean Hannity, Kristol, and Rush Limbaugh. Even though Kristol has apologized, I don’t think Obama should be expecting many, if any, more.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association