The View From New York-Is This The Economy The Left Defends Against Palin?

At the end of the day a presidency must be judged,except in war time, on how the economy is doing, i.e. how many people are in work.The (true) unemployment rate is the key.It is the factor which governs the day to day life of the average American-their "happiness" index whether measured in standard of living, their children's ability to get good schooling, their access to amenities their ability to pay their mortgage or rent-in other words the foundation of a decent life.

A sixteen percent unemployment rate-the highest since 1982-which shows no sign of dropping anytime in the near future-is a sign of unmitigated failure. The Gulf oil spill,the health care situation, immigration are all important but they don't impact the entire country to the level that the unemployment rate does.They can be argued about, fixed, changed but for the most part children don't go to bed hungry because of them, marriages don't break up, families don't walk away from their homes because of them.

16% is a number-it is a sad reality to see this in human terms, to walk around towns like New Rochelle and Larchmont as I have been doing and to see empty shop after empty shop, to see shops open and then close in quick succession. These were prosperous commuter belt towns but the decline is palpable.I have only see the normally unflappable New Yorkers in such a quiet mood and that was in the year after 9/11.There is no overt anger, rather a somberness which, in what is usually a sea of positivity, is striking.

The few Obama stickers in the train station car parks are fading to match his poll ratings.This bastion of liberalism is fast learning that statism is not the solution no matter how fancily dressed up it was presented in 2008.The liberal left, so typified by the East Coast elite still struggle to defend this administration and ridicule Palin-even if they never accept the clear facts that their path is the wrong one. Frankly, their electoral votes are not needed.Hopefully however a future Republican led economy will open their eyes-lets hope that not too many more are tossed on the scrap heap in the interim.