I want to be careful because once again, a liberal poster claims (with ZERO merit) that there are no threads other than to bash the President. I disagree vehemently and offered a few threads I have started that liberals just do not seem to want to engage in and also said I would start a few if possible.

I began one on the AUMF and as of this writing there has been no liberal replies that I can tell, but it has only been about 7 hours or so.

I will start another here and in being careful, let me ask the question that I would like to see discussed and then repeat it at the end. I am hoping that no conservative will spend time simply bashing liberals and hope the liberals will do the same.

Question....

Do you think a sitting President has any effect on economic performance and if so in what way ?

PS....not talking about this president or previous president, just do you think a sitting president has any effect ?

I offer this from Fortune on this subject...

"If you hang around enough enthusiastic Democrats during election season, you will surely hear these folks trumpet the fact that the economy performs much better during Democratic presidential administrations than Republican ones.

And while this relative economic performance makes for a great statistic in political debates, it’s confounding for economists, given the fact that presidents do not have a lot of direct control over the economy."


"Political scientists have shown that the performance of the economy is one of the most important factors for voters when they head to the polls. If the economy is doing well, the incumbent will likely win, and vice versa. But Blinder and Watson have shown that the president has little effect on the economy. Economic performance is determined by factors that are largely outside the control of public policy, or at least the kind of policy that is directly controlled by the Commander in Chief."

Why the economy performs better under Democratic presidents - Fortune

Perhaps the question should be...

Why do voters put so much stock in economic performance when economists say the President does not affect it ?