Failed policies?

A flailing Barack Obama, with a disastrous mid-term election looming, took to the campaign trail on Wednesday and lambasted Republicans for the nation's ills.

Whether -- a full 18 months into his presidency -- Mr. Obama can get away with continuing to avoid responsibility for the nation's current state remains to be seen. But that is obviously Mr. Obama's strategy as he seeks to persuade voters to push the Democrat button this fall.

In particular, the president used a speech in Wisconsin to again hit on what he calls "the failed economic policies of the past." It is a vague term. But if the president hopes to convince the American people that his economic agenda will lead us to prosperity, it would be helpful if he were to articulate precisely which policies he disdains.

Is the president referring to tax policy? Does he believe letting people keep more of what they earn harms the economy?

Is Mr. Obama refering to the market-oriented policies implemented in the early 1980s that led to a virtual 25-year employment boom? Are policies encouraging entrepreneurship, hiring and expansion representative of a failed approach?

The 20th century indeed offers myriad examples of failed -- even disastrous -- economic policy. We certainly can learn from those obvious lessons. Unfortunately, Mr. Obama's scorn seems to be reserved for the very economic system that for more than a century made this nation the world's economic engine.