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Aug 21

Niall Ferguson Lambasted for His Newsweek Story on Obama’s Failed Presidency

Harvard historian Niall Ferguson is catching plenty of heat over his Newsweek cover story, Obama’s Gotta Go. Ferguson details how Obama broke many of his campaign promises, and argues that a Romney and Ryan presidency is the only path to prosperity.

“The voters now face a stark choice,” he writes. “They can let Barack Obama’s rambling, solipsistic narrative continue until they find themselves living in some American version of Europe, with low growth, high unemployment, even higher debt—and real geopolitical decline.

“Or they can opt for real change: the kind of change that will end four years of economic underperformance, stop the terrifying accumulation of debt, and reestablish a secure fiscal foundation for American national security.”

Fellow writers have lambasted Ferguson for his inaccurate facts and distortions. Twitter has lit up with more than a few strong responses:

“Niall Ferguson’s piece is sadly so ridden with errors and elisions and non-sequiturs it will require a few more posts,” tweets Andrew Sullivan.

Kara Swisher: “Whatever side you are on, a must read: Niall Ferguson on Why Barack Obama Needs to Go.”

UPDATE: Ferguson has responded to some of the charges:

 

On FORA.tv Ferguson has long warned of what the federal debt and poor economic growth could do to America:

Niall Ferguson: Will Debt Trigger the Collapse of the US? from on FORA.tv

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    • http://www.englisch-sprecher.net/ englischersprecher

      As a European observer I would applaud President Obama’s attempts to try to widen healthcare coverage although it continues to baffle me why any politician in any western country would want to block such a thing.

    • lairdwilcox

      I think Ferguson is right on with most of his criticisms of Obama and increasingly it appears that more and more former Obama supporters are coming to the same conclusion. It’s not hard top see why the huge defamation campaign was launched against Ferguson. It’s extraordinarily uncomfortable when you realize that your superhero was simply over his head.
      Besides, criticizing Obama is viewed as somehow “racist,” that that’s what has protected him for so long. Ferguson is seen as attacking a sacralized figure and this is viewed as heresy among progressives and leftists.
      If healthcare coverage were free and didn’t cost anything there could hardly be any objection. The problem is that it is not. It has to be paid for by taxpayers facing a huge public debt that threatens to destroy our economy. It’s only by robbing Peter to pay Paul that massive additions to the health care rolls can be sustained, and Peter is objecting and is quite right to do so.