The New York Times tells us that Obama took a “detour” from health-care reform to talk about the economy today. He is pushing Son of Stimulus that is to include the “cash of caulkers” program — modeled on the notoriously expensive and ineffective “cash for clunkers” (billions to shift car sales from September to August) — for weatherizing homes. Republicans point to an Inspector General’s Report, which suggests that a similar program in the original stimulus plan didn’t get much bang for the buck in economic acitvity. But any day Obama is not talking about ObamaCare, even for a little while, is a good one for incumbent Democrats, as the Times reports:

Representative Sanford Bishop, Democrat of Georgia, said he was delighted to hear the president change the subject from health care. “Health care is important,” Mr. Bishop said after the president’s speech. “But it’s jobs – period. The economy is on the rebound, but it won’t be there until we re-establish employment for every American who is able to work.”

And indeed, the latest Rasmussen poll shows that most Americans are glum about the state of the economy:

Views of the country’s short- and long-term economic future are gloomier these days than they have been at any time since President Obama took office in January of last year. Forty-two percent (42%) of American adults now expect the U.S. economy to be weaker in one year’s time, up three points from January and the highest level found in 14 months of regular tracking on the question, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Thirty-six percent (36%) believe the economy will be stronger in a year, down two points from last month. That’s the lowest level of confidence measured since tracking began in January 2009. Another 13% expect the state of the economy to be about the same in one year’s time.

After Scott Brown’s victory, Obama promised a “pivot” toward jobs. That never really happened, as Obama has, with the exception of occaisional “detours,” remained obsessed with ObamaCare. The debate on that issue, on which Americans think he’s spending too much time and for which he has devised a plan they intensely dislike, is going to take us through the end of the month. It seems as though no matter what the American people tell them, the Obami think they know best. In November the voters get to correct that misimpression.

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