Answer: the policies and failures of George W. Bush, the same policies still being pushed by the GOP today, toward the same failures. Under a Republican administration, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan might be replaced by expanding and extending our presence in those countries, plus maybe a new war in Iran (or who knows where else); the Bush tax cuts would not only be extended, but would be expanded.

Of course, all other costs of government could be put up there as well, but this does quite well to demonstrate what a huge difference the cessation of the wars and the repealing of the Bush tax cuts would make.

Not that this, even were it to come from an unbiased source, would make an impression on those opposed to Obama. They still think he’s not a Christian, for chrissakes, or even not born in the U.S. Even more moderate people have accepted the idea that the deficit is “his,” which it may be in a political sense, but clearly is an artifact of Bush and continued GOP pressure.

The problem is, voters seem far more interested in blaming whomever is in office when bad stuff is happening than they are in figuring out whose policies would lead to a better result.

It’s as if we had a babysitter who turned out to be a child molester, and after we got rid of him and hired a qualified babysitter, the kids are still suffering severe trauma, made worse by the molester hanging around, so we blame the current sitter and start looking at hiring back the molester.