Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney may be making some promises to out of work Americans that he might not be able to keep.
The former Massachusetts governor boldly promised that unemployment will be below six percent by the end of a first Romney term, reports The Boston Globe.
According to the Congressional Budget Office,unemployment is supposed to fall to 7 percent by 2015, and 5.5 percent by 2017.
But even if everything goes right for Republicans and Romney wins in the presidency in this fall’s election, Romney may or may not be able to keep his promise, tying his hands for a re-election bid in 2016.
Barring some unforeseeable event, Romney could be dealing with a worse economy than the CBO is predicting in 2015, and much like President George H.W. Bush in 1992, this could be Romney’s “read my lips” moment.
Keeping unemployment low is not just the task of the federal government. State governments are also responsible for creating economic conditions in which businesses can succeed. And private businesses are directly responsible for hiring.
Early in his term, President Obama is on record as saying that his economic policies would stop the unemployment rate in the U.S. from climbing above 8 percent. “If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition,” he said.
The Romney campaign, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and conservative pundits have happily used those sound bites to work against the President, as the economy has not improved after more than three years of Obama being in office.
Because President Obama made promises he couldn’t keep, he will be struggling to defend his economic record this fall, which is not likely to rebound significantly before the election.
By specifically promising that the unemployment rate will decrease to 6 percent by the end of his first term, Mitt Romney could be setting himself up for the same, predictable defeat as past presidents, whose over promises came back to haunt them.
