Obama Re-Election Dangles on Economic Downturn

If you go back to what the president and his team were saying a year ago, it's clear that they would have seen the current situation – unemployment over 9 percent, the Dow in the dumps, inflation still rising, and gridlock in Washington – as a political calamity. They now explain that they can inculpate Republicans and lessen the public disappointment with the president, but what would you expect them to say? “We're cooked?”