February’s employment report is out Friday, and the news is pretty good: The U.S. economy added 235,000 jobs, and the basic unemployment rate is down to 4.7 percent. It’s a number in line with the steady if not spectacular recovery that the U.S. experienced during the Obama administration. You get one guess, however, as to which party is now celebrating this level of growth after spending the past several years condemning it as inadequate and disgraceful.
The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein has a good example from Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Here’s Brady on a report that the U.S. economy had added 242,000 jobs in February 2016:
Disappointing! (To be clear, despite that “full-time” hedge, the U-6 unemployment rate—which covers both individuals who have given up looking for work and individuals who are working part time but would like to work full time—had fallen in February 2016, as it did throughout the rest of Obama’s term.)
Here’s Brady on adding 235,000 jobs—which, if my math is right, is 7,000 fewer jobs than were added a year ago—in February 2017:
Great stuff!
Here, meanwhile, are some of the words and phrases that Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus used—in press releases that no doubt were handled by then-RNC communications director Sean Spicer—to describe December 2014 job growth of 252,000 and June 2014 job growth of 288,000:
- “Mediocrity”
- “We can and must do better than this.”
- “Democrat policies are wrong for the economy.”
- “There are far too many of our friends and neighbors out of work.”
- “It’s disappointing to realize that millions of our fellow Americans think the American Dream is slipping away.”
Here are Priebus’ and Spicer’s reactions to Friday’s report:
Not to overstate the case here, but it’s interesting—a touch hypocritical, even—that Republicans said adding 242,000 jobs, 252,000 jobs, and 288,000 jobs was mediocre/disappointing/evidence that Obungler was murdering the American Dream, but that adding 235,000 jobs is great news.
