“Unless the economy turns around in the next 18 months, Obama is on track to have the worst jobs record of any president in the modern era. That would be an accurate statement.”

This judgment comes not from Sarah Palin but from Glenn Kessler, fact checker for the Washington Post. Which makes the judgment triply damaging to the president, since the Post is not known as an anti-Obama newspaper.

As if to prove the point, Kessler adds a caveat to his statement: “But [Obama] also became president in the midst of the worst recession of our lifetimes–and it seems a real stretch to make him personally responsible for every one of those lost jobs, without bothering to offer a shred of evidence for the claim.”

Of course, no president is “personally responsible” for every lost job in America. The point is that like every other president, Obama is being judged by what unfolds on his watch. As for not offering a shred of evidence for the claim Obama is on track to have the worst jobs record of any president in the modern era: Kessler’s own article provides the empirical evidence (it comes to us courtesy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics). And the case against Obama’s policies and why they have had a injurious effect on our economy has been endlessly made.

One gets the sense the verdict offered by Kessler is a reluctant one, but one he cannot really dispute. And the fact that Kessler is willing to make the claim he did — with or without caveats — is notable.

Expect Kessler’s words to appear in a Republican ad near you.