After calling today's presidential address on the economy “a case of political déjà vu,” America Live guest host Shannon Bream claimed that the economy has “mostly struggled” since Obama took office, despite evidence to the contrary.

The July 24 edition of Fox News' America Live opened with a preview of President Obama's economic speech taking place at Knox College in Illinois. Bream immediately framed Obama's economic record negatively, saying, “Critics argue, they think it's just going to be more of the same, returning to themes of higher taxes and higher spending, leaving some thinking he's just out of ideas. President Obama took office, since then the economy has mostly struggled.” She then asked, “If the critics are right and there's nothing new here, what is the speech really all about?” 

But in fact, housing prices have consistently risen, the Dow Jones Industrial average, also on the rise, has posted record highs, and private sector job growth has steadily increased since February 2010:

Although the economy has improved, Republican obstructionism “has blocked pro-growth policy and backed job-killing austerity,” Guardian columnist Michael Cohen argued. Economic experts have argued that lowering public sector spending has held the economy back and government spending cuts have consistently lowered GDP growth in recent years, but Bream made no mention of Republican plans to gut the president's proposals to remedy this.

The media have long struggled to cover the economy appropriately (when they cover it at all), but Fox stands out in its efforts to rewrite history in order to attack the Obama administration.