'Blame Bush' Worked

Just like Democrats still trot out old, moldy Herbert Hoover to describe Republican policies, they will be years blaming George Bush for the results of their lousy governance.

Why? Because it works:

Early exit polls released on Tuesday evening show that about half of voters still blame President George W. Bush more than President Barack Obama for the country’s economic problems and most cite the economy as their top issue in the election.

The exit poll results released by The Associated Press fit with the argument Obama’s team has been making in the lead-up to the election.

Sixty percent of voters named the economy as their top issue, followed by health care in a distant second at 17 percent, the deficit at 15 percent and foreign policy at 4 percent. In 2008, 62 percent of voters said the economy was their top issue.

Within the issue of the economy, 40 percent of voters named unemployment as the biggest problem.

Still, voters are less than optimistic about the state of the economy. Only 24 percent said their families finances are better off than they were four years ago. Thirty-nine percent of voters surveyed said the economy is improving, compared with 31 percent who said it’s getting worse and 28 percent who said it’s staying the same.

More voters in the swing states of Florida, New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia blame George W. Bush than Barack Obama for the state of the U.S. economy.

According to early exit polls in Florida, 53% of today’s voters say Bush is more to blame for the country’s current economic problems while 41% say Obama.

In New Hampshire, exit polls show 54% blame Bush while 41% blame Obama.

There’s less of a gap in Ohio and Virginia. In both states, 50% of today’s voters say Bush is more to blame for the country’s current economic problems. In Ohio, 41% say Obama is more to blame and in Virginia 45% say Obama.

Holding the current president harmless for his mismanagement of the economy is the result of a massive, deliberate campaign of lies that obscured the record of the incumbent while pointing the finger at someone else. If you had asked me two years ago, I would have said no way the voters would allow Obama to get away with this nonsense.

Unfortunately, I was wrong.