It's the economy, stupid

The phrase on a sign at the Taxpayer March on Washington in 2009

"It's the economy, stupid" is a slight variation of the phrase "The economy, stupid", which James Carville had coined as a campaign strategist of Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential campaign against sitting president George H. W. Bush.

Carville's original phrase was meant for the internal audience of Clinton's campaign workers as one of the three messages to focus on, the other two messages being "Change vs. more of the same" and "Don't forget health care."

Clinton's campaign advantageously used the then-prevailing recession in the United States as one of the campaign's means to successfully unseat George H. W. Bush. In March 1991, days after the ground invasion of Iraq, 90% of polled Americans approved of President Bush's job performance. Later the next year, Americans' opinions had turned sharply; 64% of polled Americans disapproved of Bush's job performance in August 1992.

History

In order to keep the campaign on message, Carville hung a sign in Bill Clinton's Little Rock campaign headquarters that read:

1. Change vs. more of the same
2. The economy, stupid
3. Don't forget health care.

Although the sign was intended for an internal audience of campaign workers, the phrase became a de facto slogan for the Clinton election campaign.

Legacy

The phrase has become a snowclone repeated often in American political culture, usually starting with the word "it's" and with commentators sometimes using a different word in place of "economy." Examples include "It's the deficit, stupid!" "It's the corporation, stupid!" "It's the math, stupid!" and "It's the voters, stupid!". In the British political satire The Thick of It, "It's the Everything, Stupid" was the name of a book written by one of the characters. In a later episode a character shouts "it's the economy, Stewpot" at spin doctor Stewart Pearson. In an episode of the TV series The West Wing, "the economy stupid" can be seen written on a whiteboard in Bartlet's campaign headquarters. In an episode of Weeds, "it's the economy, stupid" is a line said by a crazy man rambling about his free goat. Composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz and bookwriter Winnie Holzman created their own version of the phrase while working on the hit musical Wicked: "It's the girls, stupid" to keep their plot focused on the musical's two female leads, Elphaba and Glinda. Another variant of the phrase, "It's the constitution, stupid" or "It's about the constitution, stupid", has been used by several parties in various election campaigns. It appeared on bumper stickers against the Bush–Cheney ticket in 2004, for the Ron Paul ticket in 2008, and appeared in video ads for the Gary Johnson ticket in 2012.

A variation of phrase was also used to coin a name for an episode of CBC radio Ideas (radio show). An episode named "It's The Economists, Stupid" aired on November 28, 2016, featured two economists voicing strong criticism on the role economists play in modern decision making and explaining how modern mantras on the economy limit our choices and shut down civic debate.

See also

• List of United States political catchphrases
• The War Room