About us Login Get email updates
Research
Print

Ingraham's "D-plus" for Obama undermined by last year's rise in consumer confidence

January 19, 2010 11:28 am ET — 40 Comments

On Fox & Friends, Laura Ingraham gave President Obama "a D-plus" on the economy and asserted that "consumer optimism" is "obviously down." But Ingraham's claim about "consumer optimism" ignores the fact that consumer confidence in December 2009 was 52.9, up from 38.0 in December 2008, an increase of 39 percent.

Please upgrade your flash player. The video for this item requires a newer version of Flash Player. If you are unable to install flash you can download a QuickTime version of the video.

EMBED

Ingraham's grade partly based on "consumer optimism"

From the January 19 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): It was a year ago, President Bush left, and President Obama said OK, the ball is mine. Let's take a look right now, in his first year, according to Laura Ingraham. Grade the president of the United States one year in.

INGRAHAM: Well, let's first start with the economy. We know where unemployment is, and there is no sign over the next several months that the economy, as far as jobs, is really going to pick up to any great extent. That, in and of itself, is a terrible blow to the Obama administration and their plans to continue to grow government. So on the economy front, I would give them a, you know, D-plus perhaps, just to be charitable. And you move on from that -- consumer optimism, obviously down.

Consumer confidence in December 2009 was up from December 2008, not "obviously down"

December 2009 Consumer Confidence Index was 52.9. In December 2009, the Conference Board stated that the Consumer Confidence Index "now stands at 52.9 (1985=100), up from 50.6 in November. The Expectations Index increased to 75.6 from 70.3 in November." Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center stated, "Consumer Confidence posted yet another moderate gain in December as expectations for the short-term future increased to the highest level in two years."

December 2008 Consumer Confidence Index was 38.0. In December 2008, the Conference Board stated that the Consumer Confidence Index "now stands at 38.0 (1985=100), down from 44.7 in November. The Present Situation Index plummeted to 29.4 from 42.3 last month. The Expectations Index decreased to 43.8 from 46.2 in November."

Expand All Expand 1st Level Collapse All Add Comment
    • Author by magnolialover (January 19, 2010 11:55 am ET)
      6  
      I'd like to point out, once again, that the economy has risen and started to recover under Obama. One indicator being the stock market.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Midnight Kevin (January 19, 2010 12:49 pm ET)
        3  
        The stock market was only an indicator during the Bush years. Nice try! Obama will have to oversee a full recovery and then some in only a matter of months to maybe get a "C-minus".
        -------------------------------------
        The Midnight Review
        Report Abuse
      • Author by ProgLib (January 19, 2010 4:56 pm ET)
        2  
        One indicator being the stock market.


        Of course, you have to remember that the wingnuts forget this indicator whenever it doesn't fit their agenda. When the stock market was at $6k, they were crying like little schoolgirl's... now you don't hear a peep out of them about it. They obviously moved onto other BS to b*tch about.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by NiceguyEddie (January 19, 2010 11:57 am ET)
      5  
      What grade did she give Bush at the end of 2008? Economy in shambles, party lost control of both houses of congress by a filibster-proof margin, stuck in two expensive wars-turned-to quagmires, banking collaspe, auto industry colapse, record deficits...

      What ONE grade could possibly encompass ALL THAT FAILURE?!

      -----------------------------------------------------
      He doens't jsut get an "F," he gets EXPELLED FROM SCHOOL!
      Report Abuse
    • Author by ABBA|Proudly teaBAGGING Liberals (January 19, 2010 12:03 pm ET)
      2 9
      This site is great just love seeing the left-wingnuts in action.... Where's the jobs? and more will be lost LONG before any new ones will be created....

      The stock market, hmmmm whata bubble
      Report Abuse
      • Author by DellDolly (January 19, 2010 12:10 pm ET)
        6 3
        Please don't feed the troll. Remember the topic here.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by southerngal (January 19, 2010 12:13 pm ET)
          1 10
          Once again with your empty directives. Worry about yourself, people around here don't need you to keep them on topic. hmmm is on topic which is the economy and consumer confidence and jobs. hmmm's opinion is what this site welcomes, not your stupid hall monitoring nonsense.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by wzwriter (January 19, 2010 12:33 pm ET)
            6 1
            Right ON couldn't stay on-topic if his life depended on it.
            Report Abuse
            • Author by southerngal (January 19, 2010 12:37 pm ET)
                8
              Coming from you, that is quite the critique. Considering every contribution you offer here is the same drive-by one-liner pedestrian gratuitous insult. Never off topic, never any substance. But thanks for being consistent.
              Report Abuse
              • Author by hurricaneyankee52983 (January 19, 2010 9:36 pm ET)
                3  
                wrong on, what do you ever offer on this site except the same old discredited RIGHT WING cr-p?
                Report Abuse
          • Author by DellDolly (January 19, 2010 12:54 pm ET)
            5 2
            No, hmmm was not on topic. You're lying, once again. You lied yesterday and a few days before that and a day or so before that WRT saying that I called bintx a liar. I never did. You have a documented history of lying here, of cropping comments, of distorting what other people said, of parsing words until they're a hollow shell of their real meaning.

            You're a serial liar because you're a paid troll.

            Here are links to his lies about me WRT bintx on recent threads.

            yesterday's is the first one here.

            http://mediamatters.org/research/201001180006#comments

            http://clips.mediamatters.org/research/201001130002

            http://mediamatters.org/research/201001110062#689734

            Report Abuse
            • Author by southerngal (January 19, 2010 12:56 pm ET)
                7
              Sue, Your history of lying, although entertaining, is off topic. Attn all; Please do not feed the troll. :)
              Report Abuse
              • Author by DellDolly (January 19, 2010 2:35 pm ET)
                3 2
                When you've tried to make my "lying" a topic of conversation on 3 threads in the past week, it is "on topic" in a reply to YOUR personal attack on me!

                Now, your personal attack on me above? THAT was off topic. Not only was it off-topic, but it was wrong in declaring that the previous poster was ON topic! Your post failed on every level.
                Report Abuse
                • Author by southerngal (January 19, 2010 2:39 pm ET)
                    5
                  Who's on third?
                  Report Abuse
                  • Author by pongotwistleton (January 19, 2010 2:54 pm ET)
                    1 6
                    Wow, I can almost see the smoke steaming from Dippy's ears.
                    Report Abuse
                    • Author by southerngal (January 19, 2010 3:05 pm ET)
                      1 5
                      Really, like a tea kettle. The angrier she gets the more incoherent she gets. If she'd stop slapping rulers on poster's wrists she wouldn't stress so much.
                      Report Abuse
                • Author by southerngal (January 19, 2010 2:47 pm ET)
                  1 5
                  Actually Sue, to set the record straight, below is the entire thread and the money quote reprinted from bintx, that you never apologized for. At first he thought it was me he was replying to, but then discovered that you had lied about what he said, not me. It's all here.

                  So your lie stands until you apologize for it. Are you woman enough to do it?

                  The entire thread

                  by bintx (January 12, 2010 2:26 pm ET)

                  Actually, I did. Merely means the same thing as "just." They are synonyms. [look it up.] Try again.

                  You're the mess.

                  I have said on numerous other threads that Reid's choice of words was poor; however, there was no racism in his statement. He merely commented on a very unfortunate cultural phenomenon which is not limited to the instant case.

                  Keep trying to make up stories.
                  Report Abuse
                  • Author by DellDolly (January 19, 2010 4:15 pm ET)
                    4 1
                    I actually already LINKED to that same conversation, doofus.

                    Try to keep up.

                    I never lied. What I said was 100% true. bintx didn't JUST say that it was merely a comment on cultural phenomenom. bintx ALSO said that it wasn't racist.

                    bintx never "discovered" that I lied. You LIED about me lying, and bintx was tired and never figured out what was actually the truth.

                    That's what I said. I never lied.

                    And you continue to LIE about me lying, because your personal animus towards me controls you so strongly.

                    Please, please, please keep making a fool of yourself. Keep posting links as though you're informing people after I've already been posting links relevant to this for DAYS, and after you failed to post links on previous threads where you accused me of lying. Keep posting links on threads HOURS after I've already posted the link!! Please. Keep showing how inept and dishonest you are.
                    Report Abuse
                  • Author by DellDolly (January 19, 2010 4:22 pm ET)
                    2  
                    Here's what bintx said....

                    "Reid was merely commenting on a cultural phenomenon and Mr. Obama's chances of winning. No racism involved. Mr. Lott was praising a known racist and bemoaning the fact that this self-same racist's agenda had not won out. No comparison whatsoever."

                    So, she didn't just say that Reid was merely commenting on the cultural phenomenom. She also talked about how it wasn't racist. So, I said that she didn't just say one thing - she said multiple things! You, RightON, dishonestly tried to make it into something it wasn't, and you've continued to do that despite my providing links on 4 threads now that it is dishonest. How many threads are you going to make this baseless accusation on, because I'll keep providing the links that show that it's dishonest every time you do.
                    Report Abuse
                    • Author by southerngal (January 19, 2010 4:45 pm ET)
                        5
                      I knew you weren't woman enough to apologize to bintx.
                      Report Abuse
                    • Author by southerngal (January 19, 2010 4:54 pm ET)
                        4
                      "bintx was tired and never figured out what was actually the truth"

                      A new lie.
                      Report Abuse
                      • Author by DellDolly (January 19, 2010 7:12 pm ET)
                        3  
                        A new lie from YOU, you mean?

                        Here's what bintx said on that thread.

                        "I was taking a break from an EXHAUSTING two days and didn't read completely."

                        And after my reply which explained things, after YOU had falsely accused me of calling bintx a liar, bintx NEVER REPLIED.

                        So, apparently, she never went back to that thread to figure out that YOU had dishonestly maligned me.

                        Like I said, she was tired and never figured out what was actually the truth.

                        But please, keep digging your hole deeper and deeper. Please.

                        If I had falsely characterized what she had said, I would have apologized and done so promptly. I didn't lie though. But you did and you continue to do so. And we'll never see any acknowledgement of that from you. You're famous for cutting and running - for taking your ball and going home when you lose an argument.
                        Report Abuse
      • Author by ScienceBuff (January 19, 2010 12:24 pm ET)
        4  
        Everyone with even a small amount of knowledge of economics knows that job gains are a lagging factor in an economic recovery. That's not liberal or conservative spin. It's an economic fact, proven again and again throughout history.

        Regardless, the jobs picture is improving. Here is a job gain/loss chart complete through November:
        [http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3bGnkNeoPxk/Sxec_2yKueI/AAAAAAAADQI/8q3zp1sFpMw/s400/ADP_Employment_Report-Nov_2009.png]

        The worst job losses started a year before Obama took office and have been improving sharply since the stimulus was enacted. The cause and effect can be argued, but the timing is indisputable. The pattern indicates that we will be seeing job growth soon.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by ScienceBuff (January 19, 2010 12:45 pm ET)
          2  
          Here's a revision. There were actual job gains in November. This is the chart using Dept of Labor information:
          [http://mainstreetbusinessjournal.com/storyPics/4974-2.gif]

          A quote from the article:
          Still, there were additional signs that consistent, if not robust, U.S. job creation is expected sooner rather than later.
          ...
          an average loss of 69,000 jobs per month during 2009’s final quarter was one-tenth…one-tenth!…that of the 691,000 average monthly loss during the year’s first quarter.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by Don Hussein Fabuloso (January 20, 2010 3:33 am ET)
               
            You & yer facts, SB. Didn't you see where Hummer asked "where's the jobs?" ? You're putting up long-term, big picture reality against instant gratification, Mission Accomplished BS. They will not be affected.
            Report Abuse
      • Author by magnolialover (January 19, 2010 2:13 pm ET)
        2  
        See the graphs below, they should be easier for you to understand, they being in picture format and all. Also, the bubble in the market? What in the heck are you even talking about there? Because, if you look at the market, there was a downswing from January 2009 through March, and since March, there has been a consisten upward swing in the market, in other words, growth in the market since last March. A bubble would indicate ridiculous growth with a certain downside to it (like, oh, maybe 2008?) whereas this market is showing consistent small growth month to month and week to week, from again, March 2009 onward.

        I don't expect you to really understand the facts of what is actually going on, because you care not to.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by DellDolly (January 19, 2010 12:09 pm ET)
      4  
      It's an error of omission on her part - ignoring that very important fact, leaving off the huge increase in consumer confidence, is the only way her argument holds together. Recognizing that fact would defeat her argument.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by WorldViewer (January 19, 2010 12:40 pm ET)
        1  
        I see what you are saying with regard to your larger point, but you are incorrect. It's not an error by omission; it's an OUTRIGHT lie, or at best, a complete misdiagnosis caused by ignorance of the issue on which Ingraham was commenting. She flatly stated that consumer confidence is down, when in fact that statement has no relation to the truth, other than being the opposite of it. OK, I stole that last line from Al Franken.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by southerngal (January 19, 2010 12:10 pm ET)
      2 4
      However one "grades" Obama, it cannot be denied that at least he stopped the bleeding. The policies and steps taken in the past year are arguable for the long term, pros and cons of course. But considering our entire economy was teetering on a cliff and headed downward, any fair and reasonable person has to give credit to Obama for at least keeping our footing.

      Jobs are still tough and people are nervous, and we will see in another year perhaps where we are, and Obama can no longer point to his "inheritance" anymore, but credit should be given where credit is due.

      People like Ingraham live to serve their radio audience's overwhelming dislike of Obama so any "grade" they hand out should be viewed in that context. In other words, who really cares.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Jeremy Danials (January 19, 2010 4:58 pm ET)
        1  
        I agree.

        Jobs will still be lost, but in less and less amounts until we fully stabilize. The neocons will continue to argue that Obama should've been able to fix everything in a few weeks, as the right-wing hacks at MindFox have been. But Let us remember Clinton's first year in office, and what he ended up accomplishing after eight full years in office.

        There are no quick fixes. only quick-shooting mouths on the right-wing hacks. Maybe if we finally repeal NAFTA, or at least pass legislation that says that if you claim to be an American company, and ship jobs overseas, you must pay those workers an American living wage, they'll bring back the manufacturing base they sold out from under us.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by vhw28672478 (January 19, 2010 1:36 pm ET)
      3  
      Ingraham is a paid hack She is a lying Right wing tool
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Number 5 (January 19, 2010 2:44 pm ET)
        2
      What one grade would I give the Progressive machine that started this mess, IE The New Deal: F

      If there is any recovery it is in the public sector, pay attention to U6 unemployment last report was between 16% and 17%.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by eweston8542983 (January 19, 2010 7:25 pm ET)
        3  
        So everything from FDR on that worked to support the working class american has been an error. Bet your a million laughs on this subject at parties.

        Recovery in the public sector is bad somehow. A public paycheck somehow contains inferior money then I guess.

        What actions are on track to reduce unemployment by the private sector then?
        Report Abuse
    • Author by hurricaneyankee52983 (January 19, 2010 9:28 pm ET)
      2  
      Just who gives any credence to what this RIGHT WING blowhard thinks and says.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Don Hussein Fabuloso (January 20, 2010 3:36 am ET)
        2  
        I'm sure Ingraham put as much thought and careful analysis into her "report card" as Sean Hannity did into his All-F's report on Obama's first year.

        By which I mean, they wrote their shtick as soon as Obama was nominated, and squirmed around for a year or so just waiting to unleash their worthless opinions on that teabagger minority that cares what they think.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Locus (January 20, 2010 9:33 am ET)
             
          The President's approval ratings have dropped nineteen percentage points since his taking office so it's clear that disillusionment with Obama extends well beyond the "teabagger minority". Perhaps you need to put in a little more "thought and careful analysis" into this question yourself?
          Report Abuse
        • Author by foghornleghorn (January 20, 2010 1:35 pm ET)
          2  
          Obama could have cured cancer and personally waterboarded Bin Laden and these hatemongers would still give him all F's.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by Don Hussein Fabuloso (January 20, 2010 1:51 pm ET)
               
            Well, the first one would have added to unemployment by putting a lot of doctors out of work, and hurt business by eliminating the need for a lot of drugs and treatment.

            And the second, using water instead of some sort of caustic acid would have only demonstrated how soft on terror Obama is.

            Hey, being a wingnut pundit is easy !
            Report Abuse

my.MediaMatters.org

Login  Sign Up

Push Back

Phone calls, emails and letters from the public do make a difference. Remember that to be effective you must be polite, and professional. Express your specific concerns regarding that particular news report or commentary, and indicate what you would like the media outlet to do differently in the future.