Recessions and the Electoral Blame Game

As a result of the recession that began in 2007 and continued into 2009, the unemployment rate rose to as high as 10 percent. By the time of the congressional elections of 2010, the economic recovery was under way, but the unemployment rate was still around 9.6 percent. The Republicans saw this as evidence that the Democrats’ economic policies had failed to deal with the lasting effects of the recession. They, in fact, blamed the lasting high unemployment on the policies of the Democrats and President Barack Obama. The Democrats and President Obama pointed to increasing real gross domestic product (GDP) as evidence that the economy was fundamentally sound and was no longer in a recession. Both parties could not be right—either the economy had entered a period of expansion and the policies of the Democrats were working and they should get credit for it (whether deserved or not), or had not and had in fact contributed to continuing high unemployment.

(A) Why do you suppose that one party can at the same time be blamed for not really ending a recession and itself take credit for ending a recession?