It's All Obama's Fault

News on Thursday of an agreement in which banks voluntarily agreed to write down their loans to Athens by 50% buoyed the spirits of investors here and abroad and appear to give Greece an opportunity to begin climbing out of a deep financial hole. Rush Limbaugh explained today that

The stock market is already reacting to the very real possibility Obama will not win a second term. That's why the market is up, and we will be back.

The New York Times has another explanation, reporting

In Europe, stock markets soared, by more than 5 percent in Germany, and by more than 6 percent in France. The stocks of European banks, which the crisis had threatened to overwhelm, bounced back by as much as 25 percent.

In the United States, where the stock market had already rebounded by 14 percent since Oct. 3 on expectations of a European deal and slightly better economic conditions in America and China, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index rose 4 percent, moving back into positive territory for 2011. Financial stocks were up more than 6 percent. If stocks do not lose any ground again this month, the S.& P. 500 is on track for the biggest monthly rally since 1974.

Stocks were plummeting a few weeks back on the fear of a double-dip recession here and a default or two in EuropeBut since then, stocks have risen as economic data suggested that the United States had fended off the immediate threat of a recession and that China appeared to be preparing for a soft economic landing as its economy slowed. Stocks have also been helped by stronger-than-expected corporate earnings in the current reporting season.

So, o.k. then. The markets skyrocketed because of the European debt deal- or because investors woke up one morning, looked at a bunch of polls, and realized there is in twelve months an election Barack Obama may not win.

Pretty clever, though. Limbaugh says the stock market is up because Obama is down. No doubt when the Dow Jones goes back down, it will be because of Obama. And if Limbaugh's prediction "we will be back" comes about and the economy improves, it will be because those vaunted job creators believe Obama will lose re-election. If the economy doesn't bounce back, that, too, will be because of President Obama and Rush will congratulate himself for being right, as always. And while corporate profits continue to soar to unprecedented levels, Limbaugh can again assure his audience

He is at war with the private sector and he's winning, folks. The president of the United States is winning his war against the private sector. He is destroying it. That is his mission.

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