Obama: Economic Uptick Isn't Mission Accomplished

April 30) -- There are two U.S. economies: the one measured by businesses's output of goods and services, and the one felt by Americans as a sense of family financial security.

It is that second, emotional take on the economy that President Barack Obama had in mind today when he refrained from trumpeting the picture of recovery painted by a new Commerce Department report on gross domestic product for the first three months of the year.
U.S. President Barack Obama during a Rose Garden event at the White House April 30 in Washington, DC.
Win McNamee, Getty Images
President Barack Obama comments on the economy during an event Friday in the White House Rose Garden.

According to the government's initial estimate, U.S. economic output grew at an annual rate of 3.2 percent. It was slower than the 5.6 percent rate clocked in the fourth quarter of last year -- which economists knew was unsustainable -- but marked a tremendous turnaround from the 6.4 percent decline in the first three months of 2009.

"What this number means is that our economy as a whole is in a much better place than it was one year ago," Obama said in the White House Rose Garden, a few hours after the GDP numbers were released. "The economy that shrank for four quarters in a row has now grown for three quarters in a row.

"But I measure progress by a different pulse, the progress the American people feel in their own lives, day in, day out," he added, noting the country is still struggling to recuperate from 8 million jobs lost. "While today's GDP report is an important milepost on our road to recovery, it doesn't mean much to an American who has lost his or her job and can't find another.

"For millions of Americans -- our friends, neighbors and fellow citizens ready and willing to get back to work -- 'You're hired' is the only economic news they're waiting to hear."

The president's remarks underline how the jobs market overshadows any broader economic story in public life, and how closely Democrats and Republicans alike will pay attention to the employment report released by the government on the first Friday of each month between now and the midterm elections in November.

Economic insecurity is almost as politically resonant now as terrorism-related security fears were in the early years of President George W. Bush's administration. And even as he takes credit for putting the economy back on its feet, Obama has no wish to declare "mission accomplished" when so many Americans feel the economic battle is far from won.

One recent Associated Press-GfK Poll indicated that only 21 percent of Americans feel the economy is in good shape. Unemployment is at 9.7 percent, and that's not counting the more than 2 million unemployed people the Labor Department didn't include in the workforce last month because they weren't looking for work anymore.

Republicans know this too.

Speaking on National Public Radio today, House Minority Leader John Boehner pointed out that "the American people are asking the question: Where are the jobs? When are we going to get the economy going again?"

Economic insecurity also explains why the White House has effectively treated Wall Street executives as its biggest political nemesis -- much more than Republicans -- for the past five months. The financial crisis, even if over, still looms politically.

There is genuine good news in the GDP report. Consumer spending, the biggest engine of U.S. economic growth, improved at a healthier annual rate of 2.55 percent in the quarter, with Americans showing an increasing willingness to buy durable goods like refrigerators, appliances and cars. Recovering sales for American automakers -- as seen in the recent quarterly results from General Motors, Chrysler and Ford -- played a big part.

The report also indicated that inflation remained tame, giving the Federal Reserve more leeway to keep interest rates and the cost of borrowed money low for some time to come.

But with both the Fed and the White House predicting weak job growth into next year, that is the economic and political issue expected to remain at the fore.