Most folks who support President Trump point to what they see as his economic successes—a rising stock market and solid job creation. However, by those standards, one would think that these same folks also believe that President Obama was an equally successful leader, having overseen an economy that saw the stock market triple during his eight years in office and unemployment halved through the creation of 12.5 million jobs.
There is, of course, one big difference between Messrs. Obama and Trump with regard to the economy: that being the conditions under which each took office. When Barack Obama was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2009, the economy had lost 4.3 million jobs in the previous year and the market had lost half of its value. By contrast, the economy had grown by 2.5 million jobs in the 12 months prior to Mr. Trump taking the oath. Also, Mr. Trump inherited the longest streak of positive private-sector job growth in U.S. history—76 months, something that Trump supporters never acknowledge.
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