Obama versus the Gipper

Yesterday, I noted that we have generally had our strongest periods of economic growth coming out of our deepest recessions, and I compared FDR and Obama in this vein. Another good comparison is a more recent one — between Obama and President Reagan.

According to the Obama administration’s own Bureau of Economic Analysis (see “Percent change from preceding period”), in 1980, when Reagan was elected, real (inflation-adjusted) growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) was minus-0.3 percent. It was also minus-0.3 percent in 2008, when Obama was elected. So the two men inherited similarly terrible economies.