Ouch! IBD: "Judging Obama's Economy By His Own Promises"

"Do not judge me by my past promises, for that is racist. Judge me instead by my current ones."

Chart from IBD piece linked below

I'm sure to do that is unfair, racist and greedy.

From the Investor's Business Daily editorial by John Merline (h/t Instapundit):

Perhaps the best metric is Obama's own promises about what his economic plan would produce. Those are contained in his first budget, which was issued in early 2009. 

Above are charts comparing that budget's forecasts for key economic indicators with what actually happened. [Charts are above at top of post] 

The results are startling. The economy did far worse than Obama thought it would on every important measure. 

But, his backers say, the recession was deeper than Obama expected at that point. Except that nominal gross domestic product in 2010 turned out to be exactly where Obama said it would be. It was only after then that growth fell short. 

Others will say that Obama just did in his first budget what every president does: Paint a rosy picture of future economic growth. This doesn't hold water either, since Obama's projections were in line with the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and other economic forecasters, all of whom expected a normal recovery. 

Then again, the economy might have suffered from what Obama likes to call "self-inflicted wounds" imposed by Republicans — the threat of default, the sequestration, the turn to "austerity" policies, etc. 

The problem here is that federal spending from 2010 to 2013 was almost exactly where Obama pegged it in his first budget, and it's much higher as a share of GDP. Deficits were also far higher than Obama expected. 

From a standard Keynesian perspective, these should have provided additional stimulus to the economy — above what Obama initially forecast. 

So the GOP's efforts to rein in spending can't be blamed for Obama's failure to meet his economic targets. 

What can? Perhaps it's the combined effect of the massive Dodd-Frank financial regulations, ObamaCare, the hugely expensive new EPA regulations and two enormous tax hikes on investment income.

Look, any judgement of Obama is racist. He is above us, has to deal with problems that are far larger than any anything else in history, and is far too smart for silly conservatives and stupid people who just want to live their own lives.

Certainly, his political amateur standing, lack of any previous leadership position, his academic Marxist leanings, his big government policies, his predilection toward spying both international and domestic, his constant untruths uttered in speeches and tweeted out endlessly, his business unfriendly policies, his politically convenient witch hunts, his haughty and thin-skinned personality, his constant search for scapegoats, his recycling of failed economic and political policies, are not to blame for anything.