Political Narrative

Various Democratic outlets – most obnoxiously the "Barack Obama" profile on Facebook – have recently been touting the idea that Obama has turned the economy around and created jobs.  Based on what I remember of news reports, if I were a Republican politocrat, this is what I would be trying to sell as the 'real story':

Bush and Obama followed conventional wisdom in giving huge stimulus payments out (have to admit to Bush involvement, or anything you try to sell will be hammered flat by the media, never mind the Democrats; but emphasize that no one except hard-line conservatives objected) with a net result of approximately nothing, and huge overpayments of corporate bonuses and so forth.  (Drag in the recent bad investments of the Obama administration to strengthen the point.)  Obama also passed huge spending bills that went so far past the point of common sense that the American people had enough and voted the legislature full of Republicans.

With Republicans in office, they've squashed spending bills, refused to pass exorbitant budgets (and only passed enough for the government to get by).  With the market left alone, now we are on the road to recovery – and the only challenge left to overcome is the effects of the implosion of the similarly overspent European zone.  Emphasize the difference in Republican policy; emphasize the similarity between the Euro-crisis and what Obama wanted.  By all means do not pass another stimulus yourself at this point or your talking point is gone (and in all likelihood the recession extends, but that is an economic point rather than a political one).

Would this narrative hold up to a rigorous vetting?  I am honestly not quite sure, although I think it reflects broadly the actual outline of events over the past few years – and at all events it is more plausible to common sense than the Democratic or any other big government platform.  Granted, accepted "wisdom" does not match common sense on this one (spending your way out of a recession is directly opposed to the principle of not spending more money than you have).