Barackrobatics: In the Right Direction (November Update)

[A recycled post, updated with new links.]

Earlier this month, it was announced the unemployment rate was stuck at 9.6%, where it's been since August. This marks the 15th straight month that the official unemployment rate has been over 9.5%, a stretch not seen since the 1930s.

I was pessimistic on whether President Obama would use his (and our) favorite phrase ever this month, especially in the wake of the midterm elections. I was thinking that—somehow—the electoral results might have either shocked him back to reality or relieved him of his campaign-mode need to be chipper about the economy.

I shouldn't have worried. He and his faithful companion, Joe Biden, traipsed out to Kokomo, Indiana and spoke at a Chrysler plant last week.

No, we're not out of the woods yet. It took a lot of years to get us into this mess. It will take longer than anybody would like to get us out. But I want everybody to be absolutely clear, we are moving in the right direction.
He only used the phrase once, though. Probably because the Veep preceded him, saying:
Look, nobody knows better than this man that our work certainly isn't done yet. We're just starting. But it's important we recognize success stories like Kokomo as signs that we are definitely moving in the right direction.
And:
We know it's a long road back. But we know we're on the road. And the one most important thing we've got to communicate to the nation and to everyone listening is we can't stop now. We can't turn around. We're heading in the right direction.
Again, I encourage the Administration's speechwriters to look up the word verbigeration and use it in a sentence.

If you're keeping score, this makes November 2010 the ninth consecutive month in which President Obama has insisted at some point that the economy is headed in the right direction. (And 19 out of the past 20 months.)

And we continue to be reminded of one more quote:

President Hoover stated today that the trend of employment had changed in the right direction. He announced after the Cabinet meeting that the Department of Labor had informed him ...
… from the New York Times, January 22, 1930.

Last Modified 2010-11-30 11:13 AM EDT