SELECT YOUR VOTE

Fred Barbash: "But the fact remains that numerous signs are now pointing to economic recovery. And the GOP needs to craft a smart political response to this. Obama and Biden will surely take credit for the better economic news, just as any White House would. It’s the way the political game is played. But Republicans have to play the game, too." Larry Kudlow

Bradley A. Blakeman: What economic recovery? Seriously, unemployment is over 9% nationally and in some urban areas it is as high as 14%. We are awash in debt. Americans are scarred about their futures and have no real savings. The average consumer has $5,000.00 or more in consumer debt and cannot even afford the usurious interest payments let alone paying down the principal. Home foreclosures are still very high and no one is buying new homes. Businesses are closing and new ones aren’t popping up. Parents are not sending their kids to colleges. The auto industry is still struggling to survive. If the Obama Administration considers all this worthy of taking credit for, then I believe the Republicans would agree, and their message should be…..”thanks for nothing”!

Dean Baker: The gods are with the GOP here, since only economists and Washington pundits are going to be blathering about a recovery. The rest of the country is going to see an unemployment rate that crosses 10 percent this summer and likely crosses 11.0 percent early next year. They are also going to see a foreclosure rate that runs at a 2 million annual rate through the rest of 2009 and 2010. To anyone other than the tiny group of wonks that monitor economic data closely, the fact that GDP might be growing slowly doesn’t mean a damn thing. The rest of the country cares about whether they have a job and whether they can hold onto their home. So the GOP just has to sit back and make fun of any "elitist" Democratic politician who is stupid enough to boast about an economic recovery.

Greg Dworkin: Recovery and timing are not something Presidents control, but they can be taken advantage of (sometimes, anyway: see George HW Bush.) On any case, Larry Kudlow’s question is more likely fodder for painting the GOP as obstructionists who care only about stopping Obama than one that will lead to a workable answer.