Not that everyone is interested in substantiated fact but just in case you are, take a look at the following graph. A very common GOP talking point is how President Obama has grown the size of government while destroying jobs in the private sector. The facts as reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics prove just the opposite to be true.

A quick study of the top graph clearly shows that under G.W. Bush public (government) employment grew by almost a million employees. During the Obama Administration public employment shrank by well over half a million employees. So much for Obama being the president of “big government.”

The bottom graph disproves a similar myth. Under Bush there was significant loss of private sector jobs, which continued under Obama. However, as the end of the blue line shows, under Obama private sector employment is on the rebound.

As President Obama has often said, this does not mean we’re good to go. Our economy was damaged far greater than most economist at first suspected and it is going to take a longer time to fully recover.

First of all, something different has to come forward to recover to. General manufacturing is not going to be our economic savior and we are not the sole proprietors of information technology any longer. The American economy is in a period of rebooting and no one knows how long it will take or what the new log-on screen will look like. But, if any politician, Democrat or Republican, tells you they can kiss your ouchie and make it all better, you’re being jived just like your mommy used to do when you fell off your trike.