Statement: Says Obama has "doubled the stock market from where we started when he was sworn into office
Speaker: gerry connolly
About the speaker: Gerald E. “Gerry” Connolly, a Democrat, has represented Virginia's 11th Congressional District in Congress since 2009. The district encompasses Fairfax County, Prince William County, and Fairfax City in Northern Virginia.
Connolly serves on the House Budget Committee, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
He is the Ranking Member of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations, which covers many key issues relating to Northern Virginia’s workforce and economy.  Connolly also serves on the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation, and Regulatory Affairs.  He is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa and also serves on the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.  
Connolly is vice-chair of the New Democrat Coalition, co-chairing its Technology, Education and Entrepreneurship Task Force, chair of the Smart Contracting Caucus, co-chair of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Caucus, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on U.S.-Turkey Relations and Turkish Americans, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Korea, and co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Taiwan.  
 Connolly received a B.A. in Literature from Maryknoll College in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and a M.A. in Public Administration from Harvard University in 1979.
After graduating from Harvard, Connolly spent 10 years on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he handled numerous issues including oversight of international economic issues and policies concerning the Middle East and the United Nations.
 Connolly also worked in the non-profit and private sectors for organizations and companies involved in international trade, regulatory matters, and research.
Date: February 13, 2012
Location: virginia
Topics: bush administration;economy;jobs;stimulus
Context: a TV interview
Fact-check justification: Connolly said the stock market has doubled since Obama "was sworn into office." Connolly based his statement on the Dow. But to make his math work, the congressman omitted a 28 percent drop in the Dow that occurred during the first seven weeks of Obama’s presidency, attributing that to the Bush administration. Connolly advantageously begins counting for Obama when the Dow, in early March 2009, sank to its lowest level in almost 12 years. We wouldn’t quibble if the congressmen had said the market has doubled during Obama’s term -- every index we examined shows it has done just that since March 2009. But Connolly’s statement demands a count from Day 1 of Obama’s administration and when start there, a different picture emerges. The Dow rose 55.5 percent from Inauguration Day to the day of Connolly’s statement. Two broad indexes tell a similar story: the S&P 500 went up 59.1 percent and the Wilshire 5000 increased by 66.1 percent. It’s debatable how much of the improvement can be pinpointed to the president’s policies. So Connolly’s  has a foundation that is cracked by the weight of exaggeration and cherry-picked data. We rate it .