Dropping like flies

Every time you turn around, it seems, there’s another Republican announcing he’s not running for president. First, Haley Barbour. Next, Donald Trump. Then, Mike Huckabee. Now, Mitch Daniels.

Each of them gave their own reasons for dropping out or not jumping in. Haley’s got too much on his plate in Mississippi. The Donald has all those casinos to run. Mike’s making too much money on Fox. And Mitch wanted to run, but his wife wouldn’t let him.

{mosads}Now, each of those excuses might be true as far as it goes. But let’s be honest. There’s another reality at play here. While professional or family duties were certainly one factor in their decision, all of those candidates decided not to run for the same overpowering reason: They took a good look at Barack Obama. They considered his record. They concluded there was no way they could beat him in 2012. And they didn’t want to waste the next 18 months pretending.

You can’t blame ’em. Sure, any knee-jerk liberal could tell you lots of things about Obama’s first two and a half years they’re not happy with. Any conservative could double that list. But Obama’s never going to convince the far left or far right. For the big bloc of voters in the middle, however, he’s built an impressive record.

Consider the latest. This week, six years ahead of schedule, Chrysler paid back the $5.8 billion it owed American taxpayers — plus $1.8 billion in interest. GM did the same thing, a year ago. Today, auto manufacturers are back on their feet: reopening plants, rehiring workers, producing and selling better cars. And it’s all thanks to the auto bailout, started by President George W. Bush and expanded by President Obama — a move Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Newt Gingrich all opposed at the time. They predicted it would destroy the American auto industry. Instead, just the opposite occurred. Score one for Obama.

It’s the same with TARP, another Bush-Obama program decried by Republicans and Tea Partiers as a massive government giveaway. Yet most banks have already paid back their loans, with interest. And corporate profits are higher than ever before. It’s a capitalist success story. Obama gets the credit.

There are other signs the economy is steadily improving. The Dow’s settled in north of 12,000. Gas prices are going down. And, while 9 percent unemployment is still too high, the country’s experienced 14 straight months of positive job growth and four straight months of over 200,000 new private-sector jobs.

To which you can add: The last combat troops come home from Iraq in July; that same month, the first troops leave Afghanistan; universal healthcare’s now the law of the land; and, by the way, did I mention he also tracked down and killed Osama bin Laden?

That’s a hard record for anybody to beat. No wonder so many smart Republicans are dropping out. Only the dumb ones are running.

Press is host of the nationally syndicated “Bill Press Show.”