title:  R.I.P. GOP White House Dreams? U.S. Jobs Haven’t Grown This Much Since The ‘90s
text: It has been sixteen years since the American economy has added as many jobs as it added in 2015. Economic observers believe, pending the upcoming jobs report that will indicate how many jobs were added in December of 2015, that last year 2.5 million jobs were added to the U.S. economy. That is a feat that hasn t been accomplished since 1998-99, during the Clinton boom.Under President Obama, the economy has completely flipped from its death spiral under the Bush recession.Even with weakness seen during the summer, job gains in 2015 will top 2.5 million, making it the second-best calendar year for U.S. job growth in this millennium, after last year s 3.1 million. The last time more jobs were created in a two-year period was at the height of the dot-com boom, in 1998-1999.The December totals should get a shot in the arm from the warm weather, said Ted Wieseman, an economist at Morgan Stanley. He forecasts an overall gain of 215,000.Barclays told Marketwatch they believe the current unemployment rate of 5.0% will fall to 4.3% by the end of 2016 and 3.7% by the end of 2017.Unemployment reached a high of 10% in the months after President Obama took over from George W. Bush.The growing economy is one of the strongest factors in favor of Democrats retaining the White House, even though it is generally difficult for one party to hold the office for three consecutive terms, a feat last accomplished in 1988 with the transition from Ronald Reagan to George H. W. Bush.It may explain why many of the Republican presidential candidates, including Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio, are increasing how often they speak about the threat of international terrorism. Those candidates have decided to down play the work of the American military in combating terrorism, even as top ISIS leaders die via American bombing raids.Yet even that may be a failing strategy. After the tragic terror attacks on Paris, polls showed that the candidate most trusted to deal with terrorism is Secretary Hillary Clinton, who is also the candidate most closely affiliated with President Obama.On two of the most pressing issues, Republicans have the most recent national failures on their ledger. The economic collapse under Bush, and the growth of international terrorism, particularly the worst terrorist attack in American history, under Bush.Featured image via Wikimedia Commons