Unemployment - at What Point in Obama's Term Does He Become Responsible?

In November when Obama won the election, the unemployment rate was 6.8%. In January of 2010, it is well over 10% and rising. More jobs are being lost every day and society is asking, "When will the bleeding stop?"

President Obama inherited a bad situation from the former President George Bush but how long can he continue to blame the declining job market on the past? At some point, he needs to provide the country with recovery, or at least stability, of which we have neither.

So many Obama supporters are still blaming Bush for the state of the economy. We can't forget that George Bush was in a similar situation in 2000 when he took office inheriting a recession brought on by the burst of the Dot.com bubble. In 2001, when Bush took office, unemployment was barely over 4%. With the 9/11 attacks in 2001, business setbacks caused unemployment to rise steadily again reaching levels over 6% in 2003. Tax cuts then offset the increase in unemployment from 2003 to 2007 and leveled off at 4.9%.

From December of 2007 to November of 2008 when Barack Obama won the election, the unemployment rate rose to 6.8%. That means George Bush was responsible for unemployment rising around only 2% total for his entire term, even after inheriting a recession situation and dealing with the major catastrophe of 9/11.

President Obama has been in office for little over a year now and, unlike George Bush, has not been able to use policy to alter the unemployment rate that continues to rise steadily month after month. Since November of 2008 when President Obama won the election, unemployment has risen more than 3% in one year and continues to increase with corporate layoffs, cutbacks, and business failures.

Opposing media has condemned Sean Hannity on Fox News, calling him "tasteless" for using the term "political earthquake" to describe various events taking place in the U.S. economy and politics after the Haiti Earthquakes this month. But just like many people were trapped in the rubble of the after math of Haiti's destruction, Americans are also "trapped under the rubble" so to speak. So many jobless individuals are just waiting for someone to dig them out and save them from this economical destruction.

Despite the billions of dollars spent in the beginning of 2009 on a stimulus bill that was supposed to create jobs, the unemployment rate continues to rise and over 2 million Americans have lost their jobs. The Obama administration claims that many jobs were saved because of the Stimulus bill and that we would be in much worse condition had there been no stimulus. The fact is the unemployment rate is still higher than it was prior to the Stimulus bill and net jobs were not saved.

Jobs saved or not, Obama's track record so far does not even match up to the President before him, despite public opinion about George Bush, who was not favored at the end of his candidacy despite his ability to counter act the rising unemployment throughout his term. At some point, Obama will have to stop blaming the previous president and look at his own record, which at this time is not so good.