Yes, Democrats still talk with nostalgia about Clinton’s speech to the DNC. But what Clinton does not want you to see is that he inherited an expanding stock market, healthy GDP growth, and booming job situation from Bush 41 (jointly a solid economy), while he left a crashing stock market, slowing GDP, and flat job market (jointly a dying economy) for his successor Bush 43.
| Year | Dow | NASDAQ | S&P | GDP | QGDP | Jobs | UR |
| ‘76 Ford for Carter | 17.8% | 26.10% | 31.55% | 5.4% | 2.9% | 250K | 7.7% |
| ‘80 Carter 4 Reagan | 14.9% | 33.8% | 14.9% | 1.9% | 7.6% | 119k | 7.1% |
| ‘92 Bush for Clinton | 4.1% | 15.4% | 4.4% | 3.4% | 4.2% | 254K | 7.5% |
| ‘00 Clinton for Bush | -6.1% | -39.2% | -10.1% | 4.1% | 2.4% | 61.3K | 4.0% |
| ‘08 Bush for Obama | -33.8 | -40.5% | -38.4% | -0.3 | -8.9 | -760K | 5.8%* |
GDP Note: All numbers are adjusted for inflation at 2005 dollars. Reflects the last year growth or decline of the sitting president.
QGDP is the growth or loss of the last quarter of a sitting President. Note how the final months of Bush 41 the GDP was going uphill compared to his overall last year, vs Clinton where the number goes down hill.
UR Note: The Unemployment Rate is the average for the year indicated.
* In case you are wondering how the UR was on average 5.8% in Bush’s last year despite the crashing economy, the answer is that “The Bush Economy” was actually quite alright overall. It’s just that in the final few months we went through a Hurricane that Dems use as a platform to hit Bush’s record, but Hurricanes are not the norm nor the standard; they pass. Yet Dems hold up those dire few months as the starting point from where to measure success or failure of President Obama.
Jobs reflect the average job gain/loss per month for the month before, during and after when the new president was inaugurated. The average job growth for the given three months is the best indicator where the economy was heading when the changing of the guards took place.
So when Clinton tells you that we gained more jobs under Dem Presidents in the last fifty years than under GOP Presidents, show him what job market Ford and Bush 41 left for their Dem successors, vs. what job market Carter and Clinton left for their GOP successors.
