Yuval Levin asks:

Again and again tonight, and over the past few weeks, the president said the stimulus bill “will save or create up to 4 million jobs.” How exactly do we measure jobs that are “saved”—i.e., that would have been lost but weren’t? Will every American who hasn’t lost his job a year from now be indebted to the stimulus plan for saving it? Is this just a way to make sure he meets his goal regardless of what actually happens?

As Yuval makes clear, this is silly stuff — as if the president were claiming that the stimulus was responsible for the rain or the population growth, both of which are sure to follow with or without the stimulus.

More interesting is when he’ll declare “mission accomplished.” Will the jobs be saved just in time for the Congressional 2010 elections? Or will it take until the fall of 2012? Perhaps if his poll numbers dip in 2011, that would be a good time to pull his number out. Next time Christina Romer or Larry Summers are interviewed some enterprising reporter might ask how they are keeping track of all the “saved” jobs.

At some level this is evidence of the low regard with which the White House views the press and public. “Hey, let’s tell ’em 4 million!” “No, no– I got it we will say ‘save’– then we can’t be wrong!” This sort of thing seems beneath the offering of all those brainy Ivy Leaguers. But more and more it appears that they are merely window dressing for recycled political cant. It is plainly the spin doctors who are in charge here.