Riding Wave of Good News, Obama Still Wary of Economy

As President Obama rides the wave of good news after his policy change on immigration and the Supreme Court shocked the world by declaring Obamacare constitutional, economists are predicting that the gloom will soon descend when the latest economic news comes out.

For the first time in months, Obama is solidly ahead of Romney in the national daily tracking polls, but the euphoria may be short-lived.

The combination of Europe’s decline and a slowdown in manufacturing will create new jobs numbers for June in the range of 90,000, which won’t cause any budge in the 8.2 percent unemployment rate. Experts predict that Obama needs jobs numbers consistently in the range of 150,000 a month going into November for the economy to not be seen as a drag to his re-election chances.

Of course Republican challenger Mitt Romney is gleeful about any piece of bad economic news that he can pounce on, since the bad economy is the centerpiece of his campaign. Rocked by the Supreme Court decision and caught flat-footed by Obama’s renewed embrace by Hispanics, Romney certainly will be pleased about the stories that are sure to come about all the Americans still out of work.

But Romney also has added to his woes this week by allowing pictures to get out of him and his wife jetskiing on the scenic lake alongside his $10 million estate in New Hampshire. The shots are reminiscent of Democratic candidate John Kerry in 2004 allowing himself to be pictured windsurfing, which exaggerated his developing image as an rich, aloof patrician out of touch with common Americans. Romney has a similar problem—and pictures of him jetskiing can’t help that image.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top