Economy Still Hounding Obama

Politico reports that the US economy is still problematic for Obama, especially considering that the election is just one year away.

Some key points from the article:

1) The housing market is clearly in a double dip recession.  "weak signals include a much-worse-than-expected 4.2 percent drop in home prices in the first quarter as measured by the S&P/Case-Shiller index. The housing market is now clearly in a “double-dip” decline, back to levels not seen since well before the recession. Pending homes sales dropped 11.6 percent in April, and consumer spending grew a tepid 0.4 percent, the smallest increase in three months."

2) Companies still remain hesitant to hire despite strong corporate profits. Job recovery has been much slower than previous recessions. "Corporate chief executives, meanwhile, appear unwilling to use their run of strong profits to go on significant hiring campaigns until economic signals point in a more positive direction and consumer spending trends suggest more robust demand."

3) Overall growth of the US economy was slower than expected in the most recent quarter and expectations were subsequently downgraded for the upcoming quarter.


4) Consumer confidence is on the decline again.


5) High prices on gas and food continue to slow the recovery.


Obama had hoped that the economy would be strongly rebounding as he entered the campaigning phase of the reelection cycle. It doesn't appear that he will have that benefit.

All these economic numbers, while bad for the American public, are good news for the GOP.  Especially Gov. Romney, who brings economic experience and credibility on economic issues that no other candidate can compare to.