Are the Dems Jinxed?

Six Democratic administrations were elected in the 20th century. Five of them ended in economic and foreign policy chaos. The only one that didn't - Clinton's - ended in his own personal brand of chaos.

Writing about Woodrow Wilson the other day got me to thinking.

Six Democratic administrations were elected in the 20th century. (Counting FDR/Truman and JFK/LBJ as one each.) Five of them ended in economic and foreign policy chaos. The only one that didn't - Clinton's - ended in his own personal brand of chaos. (And the 9/11 plot was well underway when he left office and the bursting of the dot.com bubble in the spring of 2000 unleashed a recession.)

There have been unsuccessful GOP presidents, of course (Hoover, Nixon). But the pattern is pretty stark, I think. (John O'Sullivan has pointed out a similar pattern with regard to the stewardship of the British Labour Party.) Is the pattern repeating itself? Too soon to say, of course, but the auguries don't look encouraging.