'It was my economy!' Obama tears down Trump's boasts at PA rally

Former President Barack Obama knocked down one of former President Donald Trump's most central pitches to voters for re-election at a Pittsburgh rally Thursday evening: that Trump was a masterful steward of the economy.

In fact, Obama argued, Trump just took credit for what his predecessor accomplished.

"Some think, I remember that economy when he first came in being pretty good," said Obama. "Yeah, it was pretty good — because it was my economy. It wasn't something he did. I spent eight years cleaning up the mess that the Republicans had left me."

The economy continued to grow after Obama left office under Trump. However, Trump also presided over one of the worst single-year economic disasters in U.S. history, as the COVID-19 pandemic first hit in 2020. Supply shortages crippled supermarkets around the country and unemployment peaked at 15 percent. Under President Joe Biden, the job market trend returned to pre-pandemic levels.

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Former Obama strategist David Axelrod praised other aspects of Obama's speech in a CNN panel shortly after, focusing in large part on Obama's impassioned defense of American democracy.

"I don't care who you are or what you knew or didn't know walking into that room: that speech was a riveting speech," said Axelrod. "That speech was a value-laden speech. That speech was rooted in truth and facts, but the value-laden piece of it was the most important, I've always said, and I think this is something that President Obama believes strongly, is that democracy is a battle between cynicism and hope. He's always chosen the hope side of that equation, and that is infectious. And I don't — I don't think you have to have known him from his previous incarnation as president to appreciate the words he spoke at tonight ... he doesn't give speeches, he gives talks. He has a conversation with the audience, and it's very, very effective."

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