I just don't think so Ethan, by any measure of effectiveness. In terms of purchasing power, unemployment, home ownership etc., we've had an unprecedented boom during the Bush years and the tax cuts in my view was the prime mover of this stimulus.

Besides a President, aside from "PRESENTING" a budget to Congress and proposing policies (like tax cuts that WORKED), he has little control over the budget. That's the Congress' purview. I thnk he was dead wrong on the Medicare entitlement, but he did try to reform SS and was shut down by Congress.

Also, the oil issue is particularly specific. The President tried and more than once, to pass an effective energy policy that included expanding domestic oil drilling( 84% of our Continental Shelf and Anwar have more oil & gas reserves than Iraq), nuclear, coal and eventual alternative energy. IT was Congress, but democraps and republicans that dicked this up. Oil companies have ZERO influence on world oil prices. They are the most closely scrutinized industry with the possible exception of nuclear. Their profit MARGIN (different form profit) remains between eight & nince cents on the dollar. Pretty slim by any standards. Like I said, everything else you said is opne to discuss, but the above two are just not so. jorge

A good principle to guide me through life: “This is all I have come to expect, standard lackluster performance. Trust nothing, believe no one and realize it will only get worse…”