A theme has begun to materialize in recent appearances by former President Barack Obama: he's not getting the credit he deserves for things like the strong economy or the U.S. energy boom.
Last December, Obama touted the streak of job production under his administration—although the economic recovery from the recession was slow overall—and then remarked tartly it was a "streak that still continues, by the way. Thanks, Obama."
"So when you hear all this talk about economic miracles right now, remember who started it!" he said at a rally in Nevada last month, as he spoke out against President Donald Trump.
"When you hear how great the economy's doing right now, let's just remember when this recovery started," he said in September in Illinois, adding he had to remind Republicans the jobs numbers were that good in 2015 and 2016.
"They act like it just started!" he said in Pennsylvania.
The unemployment rate, which peaked at 10 percent during the Great Recession at the beginning of the Obama years, steadily dwindled during his presidency to 4.8 percent. Under Trump, who has emphasized deregulation, tax cuts, and pro-business policies, it's gone down to 3.7 percent as of last month's report, and the economy appears on track to hit at least 3 percent annual growth this year.
On Tuesday at an event in Texas, Obama mourned the notion that the U.S. boom in energy production had suddenly occurred under Trump.
"You wouldn't always know it, but it went up every year I as president. That whole, suddenly America’s like the biggest oil producer and the biggest gas—that was me, people," he said.
The Daily Caller noted U.S. oil production indeed doubled during the Obama years, and natural gas output rose 50 percent, but the rise was mainly from work on private or state lands outside his administration's purview. The Trump administration has dramatically increased oil production on federal lands, with Department of the Interior data stating this year has been the highest on record.
Onshore oil production on federal lands in first seven months of 2018 is the highest that Interior has on record, or since at least 2002, according to data provided to the NYT by Interior, which is not yet public.
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) October 28, 2018
Obama also complained at the event in Texas that Wall Street types disliked him despite the growth of the stock market under his administration.
"What are you talking about? What are you complaining about? Just say, ‘Thank you,' please,'" Obama said.