Democratic strategist James Carville is famous for saying, “It’s the economy, stupid.” The comic phrase came to being in 1992, when Carville was advising Bill Clinton on his successful run for the White House.
What was true 32 years ago is true now. The economy is a major player in political elections. But this year there’s a twist.
In an interview with CNN, host Anderson Cooper asked Carville, “Is the economic message not — I mean, shouldn’t that be front and center? I mean, there’s certainly some good economic news, I believe.”
Cooper had a point. The stock market has reached record highs as of late, so it would make sense to brag about it if you’re in the Biden camp, right?
Carville didn’t think so.
“Right,” Carville replied, “but people live in an economy, and they feel it, and we know from the Clinton years and we know from the Obama years, that it takes a lot — you have to go pretty deep into recovery, where people are feeling it.”
Back in 1992, the U.S. was in an economic recession. The GOP president at the time, George H.W. Bush, was seen by voters as out of touch with ordinary Americans.
Carville isn’t a stupid man. He seized the moment by advising Clinton’s campaign staffers to bring up the economy every chance they got. To drive the message home, he went so far as to hang a sign in campaign headquarters that read in part, “The economy, stupid.”
Has Biden created a bad economy?
The rest is history.
That was then, this is now.
“And I think he [Biden] should talk about things they’ve done to help families cope with cost of living increases,” Carville told Cooper, “like the prescription drugs or releasing the petroleum reserves or other things that they’ve done to clear up the supply chain.
“But it’s hard if you tell people they live in a good economy, and they don’t think they do, they think that you don’t understand their lives,” Carville continued.
“And I think he can talk about things that he’s done. He can certainly talk about his infrastructure bill, which is a real magnificent achievement, but I don’t agree that they should go out and tell people how great this economy is.”
The average American doesn’t like being lectured to like they’re an idiot child. Last summer, the White House official website posted an article with the headline, “Bidenomics Is Working.”
“President Biden and Vice President Harris came into office determined to rebuild our economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down,” the article read, “and that strategy is working.”
Since then, Democrats have cheered Biden’s economy like a bunch of drunken football fans watching a game they don’t know they’re losing.
The fact of the matter is, Americans don’t believe Bidenomics is working. The rate of inflation, for example, might be going down, but that doesn’t mean prices aren’t still going up. Americans still cringe when they go to the grocery store.
Last month’s NBC News national poll showed that Trump was trouncing Biden on the economy by 20 points. Most people simply don’t believe Bidenomics is peachy keen. Why? Because they still feel the squeeze in their wallets.
“You’ve got to let people feel the economy and they can talk about measures that they’ve taken to help people deal, which obviously has been cost of living increase for families across this country,” Carville explained to Cooper. The Ragin’ Cajun hit the nail on the head.
Progressive sycophant Anderson Cooper could only respond, “Yes. James Carville, thank you so much. Good to talk to you.” He may as well have said, “Bye, bye, party pooper.”
Democrats are out of touch and Biden is out of his mind. The rich may be getting richer, but the poor and the middle class aren’t. Do the math — Carville did. Who has more votes?
It’s still the economy. Only this time, Carville thinks the Dems should brush it under the rug, because it’s a loser. Will they heed his advice?
