Politicians running for president love to issue warnings about what will happen if other candidates get elected. Inspired by some of this year’s dire predictions, I’ve decided to go back and see what pundits and politicians said would happen if Obama was elected to a second presidential term.
Rush Limbaugh said, “There’s no ‘if’ about this … the country’s economy is going to collapse if Obama is re-elected … California will declare bankruptcy … I know mathematics and I know economics.” (California currently has a record budget surplus of nearly $1 billion.)
Author Robert Wiedemer made a more specific prediction: “[If Obama is re-elected], the data is clear: 50% unemployment, a 90% stock market drop, and 100 % annual inflation by 2013.” (As of December 7, 2015: unemployment is at 5%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up over 35% beyond its level when Obama was elected, and the yearly inflation rate is at 0.17%.)
Mitt Romney warned Obama’s re-election would prompt chronic unemployment — higher than the 8.3% unemployment of the time — and promised he could get that rate down to 6%. (The unemployment rate is currently 5%.)
Senator Mike Lee (Republican-UT) said Obama’s re-election would cause gas prices to rise to $5.45 per gallon by 2015, with prices soaring to $6.60 per gallon by the end of Obama’s second term. Newt Gingrich predicted gas prices of $10.00 per gallon, but said he could get the price down to $2.50. (The national average price for a gallon of gas as of December 7, 2015, is $2.03.)
Ted Nugent said he would be “dead or in jail” within a year of Obama’s re-election. (As of today, he is neither.)
Westgate Resorts owner David Seigel warned employees that Obama’s re-election (and tax policies) would endanger their jobs. (In 2014, the company reported “its best year ever” and has given employees raises.)
Pundit Marc Theissen claimed the “Defense Department will be gutted, with cuts so deep America will no longer be a superpower.” (In fact, military spending “is near historic highs, and above the levels of spending that occurred under Ronald Reagan.”
A family member angrily insisted Obama would “personally go door to door collecting our guns” and would “give all the white people’s money to the Blacks.” (Not yet.)
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