Growing Consensus That Obama Would Own The Economy If U.S. Went Off Fiscal Cliff

Bob Woodward Suggested That Obama Would Own The Recession Caused By Taking Us Over The Fiscal Cliff. BOB WOODWARD: “But this does real damage to the economy and to millions of people if going over the cliff. This is not an abstraction. You could begin a recession. And Senator Durbin’s idea, and the polls support him, that the republicans will own this recession will last about one month, because presidents own recessions. Presidents own dramatic improvements in things. We live in the Obama era. Not the John Boehner era.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 12/9/12)

The New York Times’ Helene Cooper Said That Obama Would “Have To Own It” If We Went Into A Recession As A Result Of Going Over The Fiscal Cliff. HELENE COOPER: “I really do think at the end of the day, Larry, what you describe sounds like sort of the White House negotiating right now. Easily saying, yeah, we can go over the fiscal cliff. But at the end of the day, this is a president, he would have to own it. He may - he has to own the recession. But if we go over that, he is going to have to own that.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 12/9/12)