And how will this impact on the looming mid-terms with the Democrats already poised to lose their majority?
In 1982 the Republicans went into the mid-terms with unemployment above 10% and a president whose approval rating languished in the 40s.
Bad economies tend to produce bloodbaths: in 1982, the last mid-terms with a comparably bad labour market, the ruling Republicans lost 26 House seats (see chart), and a sinking economy contributed to the historic Republican massacre after Watergate in 1974.
It suffered catastrophic defeats in the 2006 mid-terms, with conservative heroes such as Rick Santorum losing his Senate seat and conservative ballot measures going down to defeat.Both Mr Obama and Mr McCain also had good reasons for avoiding some of the most emotive issues in politics.
If Labour won the next election the vote would be held in mid-term, with what would probably be a Eurosceptic Tory leader, he argued, and that meant there was a good chance Britain would "end up leaving" the EU, something Mr Miliband did not want and would not be good for Britain.
Wissler thinks that's a bad idea: "In the long run this helps the company to survive, but in the short-to-mid-term, with so many different segments, you have to spend more on research and development, you need to have distribution channels.
So it was clear that CAS had higher risks of nondisabling stroke during short-term of periprocedural 30 days, long-term of >postprocedural 4 years, and overall period of follow-up, while a comparable risk during mid-term with CEA.
2014 is a crucial election year, with Democrats facing a mid-term election with a (relatively) unpopular president, and Republicans facing stiff competition from the uncompromising conservative Tea Party faction.
But with the last two commissioners having departed mid-term, and with some Tory MPs furious at the Met over "Plebgate", Bratton remains a contender in the wings.
His party famously fought the 2009 mid-term election with the slogan "Death to Kidnappers" in a country with a history of imprisoning innocent people.
