National unemployment rate the month that the stimulus was signed into law: 8.1 percent. National unemployment rate today: 9.4 percent.
Nonetheless, the president was out this morning promising another 600,000 jobs "created or saved" this summer, and touting the 150K jobs he's already allegedly "created or saved." "Now we're in a position to really accelerate," Obama said. "Dear God, no!" one could hear the unemployment rate squealing softly in the distance, if one listened closely enough.
Obama spotlighted billions in federal agency spending planned this summer in an announcement Monday designed to draw attention to his stimulus program. Much of the spending he announced already was in the works, including hundreds of maintenance projects at military bases, about 1,600 state road and airport improvements, and federal money states budgeted for 135,000 teachers, principals and school support staff. Obama's promise to create large numbers of jobs - a vow that Vice President Joe Biden made last month - quickly drew criticism from opponents and economists who have argued his stimulus plan thus far hasn't delivered. "I think these estimates are overly optimistic," said Arpitha Bykere, a senior analyst with RGE Monitor.
You know things are actually bad when the first critic the AP quotes is an analyst instead of a Republican spokesperson. There seems to be some confusion on messaging, too. I blame Joe Biden:
President Barack Obama is ramping up his stimulus program this week even as his advisers are ramping down expectations about when the $787 billion spending plan will have an impact on job creation.
And, as if "saved or created" wasn't a fatuous enough standard to begin with, Obama continues to claim that he's "saved or created" 150,000 jobs during the same time the economy has lost 1.6 million. He could at least drop the "created" half of the canard. Then, I guess, "Hey, if we hadn't gone $700 billion further into debt in the last three months, we would have lost 1.75 million jobs" isn't an argument he wants to make. Sure, the jobs news isn't great, but Obama has to start showing some bang for the buck he's "investing" in "recovery," according to the newest Gallup numbers, which show his approval ratings slipping on spending and handling of the deficit. Forty-eight percent disapprove of his handling of the deficit, while 51 percent disapprove of his federal spending predilections, creeping down from previous months' measurements:
While Obama's personal approval ratings are still high, the slip in approval in these areas could be damaging to Democratic aspirations in 2009 and '10. Displeasure with spending rates and deficit explosion already showed the potential to get hundreds of thousands of protesters on the streets in April, during the Tax Day Tea Party protests. The administration can't be happy that the sentiment is spreading.