M D Nalapat
When
Bill Clinton fought against George Bush Senior in the 1992 US
Presidential elections, he kept the focus on the economy, going so far
as to get coined a motto: “It’s the economy, stupid”, thereby ensuring
that his entire team focused on bread and butter issues. Clinton
understood that voters vote with their wallets, rewarding those who are
seen as promoting prosperity, and punishing candidates whose policies
may perpetuate poverty. If Barack Obama got elected as US
President two years ago, a large part of the explanation may lie in the fact that his Republican Party predecessor, George W Bush, created an economic slowdown by going along with policies that promoted uncontrolled speculation and greed in business and banking circles. Even more devastating to US prosperity, Bush Junior ran two wars in the most expensive way possible, funneling contracts to high-cost US suppliers (many close to Vice-President Dick Cheney and other key supporters of his) rather than source materiel from the most cost-effective source, the way the US military operated during the Vietnam war.
