r/politics • u/Murky-Site7468 • 4d ago

'Chill The F**k Out': John Fetterman Urges Democrats To Stick With Joe Biden | The Pennsylvania senator reminded panicked Democrats on Friday that he too had a bad debate once, yet he went on to win his Senate seat.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-debate-john-fetterman_n_667ea850e4b0415858d6a2f1
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u/mom0nga 4d ago

I think a good analogy for this is that the economy is like the climate, while people's individual finances are weather. One's a big, macro-scale phenomenon that affects everything, but can be harder for the average person to notice or care about. The other is very obvious to the individual, but because it's more localized doesn't always reflect the big picture.

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u/TheMalarkeyTour90 4d ago

This probably the most solid analogy I've ever seen for the economy.

The disconnect between the overall economy and people's sense of the general cost of living isn't even a new thing.

HW Bush is widely recognised to have flubbed any chance of re-election during the debates because he started hectoring voters in the audience about macroeconomic indicators when they raised concerns about their personal finances. Clinton, of course, understood intuitively that it didn't matter what the wider economic situation was if working people didn't also feel the benefits of that economy, and his responses in the debates reflected that.

It always concerns me when I see people unable to make the distinction. Hillary wasn't able to make the distinction in 2016. Trump wasn't able to make the distinction in 2020.

And if people are going to now start finger-wagging on behalf of Biden like they're HW Bush at the 1992 debates, then they aren't doing him the favour they think they are.

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u/LargePopsicles 4d ago

Solid analogy for sure