I think you need to re-read the article. Your 'general consensus' could be phrased better as 'general media consensus', in my opinion. The author's point was that you cannot clearly establish causation in the market, and that there could be numerous reasons for the drop and he presented several other potential causes, and that analysis of segments of the market did not really correspond to the Obama announcement as the main cause. I don't think he outright rejects that it may have had some impact.<p>In general, what I take away from the article is that the tone of the Business section of the website used to be just 'business', and that you could expect clear analysis. He no longer feels that is the case, and as such, the WSJ is becoming more just another 'general media' outlet, and not as special as it once was.