Rep. Joe Barton’s statement wasn’t the most damaging political comment of the day. After all, he’s  not in the Republican leadership, and was forced to recant for rudely pointing out that once again the federal government was bullying private industry. Actually, the dumbest and most harmful thing said on Thursday came from Joe Biden, who managed to remind the voters how out of touch the White House is:

Vice President Joe Biden says the economic recovery act deserves credit for creating or saving upward of 2.8 million jobs so far, with thousands more projects coming soon in a busy summer of construction. At the White House Thursday, the vice president told reporters: “Folks, the act is working.”

With unemployment at historic highs — and predicted to stay that way for some time — and in the wake of another month of anemic private-sector job growth, virtually no one outside the White House believes this is true. Indeed, Biden’s timing could not have been worse:

The number of people filing new claims for jobless benefits jumped last week after three straight declines, another sign that the pace of layoffs has not slowed. Initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 472,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the highest level in a month and overshadowed a report that showed consumer prices remain essentially flat.

The public, as on health care and the oil spill, seems to have formed its opinion of the president’s performance. And it has come to see that White House utterances are often ludicrously wrong. The stimulus was going to keep unemployment at 8 percent. The health-care reform was going to cut the deficit. ObamaCare was going to let you keep your health-care plan.

By repeating spin that the public has already rejected, the White House isn’t changing anyone’s mind. Biden, like Obama and his economic advisers, is simply reinforcing the perception that the administration is either oblivious or dishonest — or both.