Let’s say for a second that Mitt Romney, who was the Republican Party’s presidential nominee in 2012, won the White House over Barack Obama.
Well, right now based off of recent economic news, Ezra Klein of Vox said “Romney would be hailed as the second coming of Ronald Reagan — or maybe even better!”
As Klein explained in his hypothetical piece, Romney promised during his 2012 campaign that he would bring unemployment down below 6 percentage points (it’s currently at 4.9 percent, according to CNN Money). This alone would lead the country to celebrate him and his conservative ideals.
“Romney would have promised to heal the economy, and he would have made good on that promise,” Klein wrote.
Of course, Klein pointed out that the current economy doesn't feel celebration-worthy. He said there’s been too much negativity in the news to make the American public feel proud about the current economic situation.
“But I keep thinking about the Romney counterfactual,” Klein wrote. “If this economy weren’t entangled in the narratives of Obama’s slow recovery and Trump’s rise, would we be celebrating it? I think we would be. Would we be right to celebrate it? I think so. It isn’t perfect — no economy is — but it’s a lot better than anyone expected four years ago.”
You can read more over at Vox.
Herb Scribner is a writer for Deseret Digital Media.