The Ambiguity of Hope

Last week's January job report was largely good news on nearly every level. It wasn't unequivocally good news, but we're not going to get any just yet in this economy.

It surprises me that Republicans were so dour in response to it. Granted an improving economy hurts their ability to defeat President Obama in November, so you've got that backdrop to all the grousing.

However, Americans tend to be an optimistic bunch even in the bad times. Listening to morose politicians sound unhappy after a great jobs report is not what they like to hear, generally. I'm sure the part of the G.O.P. base that is dead-set against the president nodded right along, but they're not going to vote to reelect the incumbent anyway.

It's especially surprising to me given that the current conditions allow for a really easy positive spin for the Republicans. The reason is because they have successfully blocked a lot of the president's agenda for the past year or so.

The Obama administration will no doubt claim that the president should be reelected because, despite the opposition, he's led the country towards more job growth. The converse could be easily argued, though. They could argue that the economic improvements stem directly from that opposition by Republicans. In other words, we'd be worse off if they let the president have his way. I don't think any actual numbers would bear that out, but politics has never been known for a strict adherence to the facts.

The Democrats tried to damage the G.O.P. by branding it "the party of no", but that's something Republicans have embraced to a degree by continuing to denounce the president and stall his agenda. It worked for them leading up to the 2010 election for sure.

What they're in danger of becoming, however, is the party of Debbie Downer, the buzzkills who greet even good news with furrowed brows. Regular people probably aren't looking closely at these numbers just yet, nor have they made their final choices on the November election. The Republicans can keep doing this now.

However if the economy keeps improving and they don't change their tunes to capture some of the growing optimism, they'll really find reason to be unhappy on Election Day.