[joehoya]

(05-27-2012 09:52 PM)joehoya Wrote:  

Stronger, safer and more respected than 4 years ago? Lets see, 4 years ago was May 27th 2008.

1) More respected? George Bush was president in 2008, he is not now. Easy Yes for Obama on this one.

2) Safer? Well, we have more of our fighting force back home since we pulled out of Iraq, Bin Laden is dead, and Al Qaeda has had their leadership devastated (but not destroyed). I see no significant additional threats today that were not there in 2008 (Iran had a nuclear program back then, too). So, I am going to have to give this one to Obama as well.

3) Stronger? What the heck does that mean? Economically? Not really. Remember that the bubble had not completely popped by May of 2007, although we were already in recession.
a) Home prices had begun to drop, but had not fallen through the floor yet.
b) Unemployment was only 5.5%, not the 8.3 or so that it is now.
c) The Dow Jones Industrial average closed at 12548.35 on May 27th 2008. This past Friday, it closed at 12454.83, just under a 100 points lower.

I give him 2 out of 3 (more respected and safer, but not stronger).