"If Obama's fall campaign to tackle the jobs crisis sounds familiar, that's because it is. This President has talked about jobs more than 200 times since taking office. He signed an $820 billion stimulus package to buy (mostly public sector) jobs, followed by an $18 billion jobs package lumping construction funds with hiring incentives for small business. We watched the Paul Volcker-led Economic Recovery Advisory Board of 2009 disappear, replaced by the much-hyped Council on Jobs and Competitiveness of 2011, chaired by GE's Jeffrey Immelt. 

"There's not much to show for all that. In the 26 months after the nation's unemployment rate first breached 9%, it slid back under only twice. Long-term joblessness is especially sinister: Minneapolis Fed chief Narayana Kocherlakota says it is unprecedented in post-World War II U.S. history to have this portion of the population unemployed for more than a year. Meanwhile a quiet cultural crisis brews as one out of five American men stop collecting paychecks -- getting by instead on unemployment or disability checks, the incomes of friends and family, and in some cases illicit activity."

"In 2008 voters elected Obama to fix the economy, and he spent much of his time on Obamacare. In 2010 they elected Republicans to fix the economy, and they spent much of their time on the deficit. Will any candidate in 2012 address their concerns?"

"The endgame in Libya appears near, according to Western intelligence sources, who say that Moammar Gaddafi’s family has been moving money and other assets outside the country over the past five days in anticipation of the regime’s collapse. According to these sources, Gaddafi has left Tripoli but is still in the country. ... 

"It’s unclear what Gaddafi’s moves will be in the coming days, as his regime cracks. Some weeks ago, an intermediary suggested that he wanted internal exile in the Libyan desert. But that option may be vanishing, as Gaddafi loses his hold on Tripoli and his bargaining leverage."

"A troubled nation wonders: How did we get mired in 9.1 percent unemployment, 0.9 percent growth and an economic outlook so bad that the Federal Reserve pledges to keep interest rates at zero through mid-2013 — an admission that it sees little hope on the horizon? 

"Bad luck, explains our president. Out of nowhere came Japan and its supply-chain disruptions, Europe and its debt problems, the Arab Spring and those oil spikes. Kicked off, presumably, by various acts of God (should He not be held accountable too?): earthquake and tsunami. (Tomorrow: pestilence and famine. Maybe frogs.)"

"With 16 months -- at least -- left in the Obama presidency, the law of diminishing returns has kicked in hard. The president’s approval rating stands at 39 percent in one major poll, and even the Congressional Black Caucus is starting to bail on him. 'We’re supportive of the president, but we’re getting tired,' Rep. Maxine Waters told a Detroit audience Tuesday.  

"Obama’s slide may be good political news for conservatives, but it’s extremely bad for the country. 

"Realistically, the economy won’t materially improve over the next year or so, no matter how many bus rides Obama takes. Unemployment will likely remain well over 8 percent, and the debt-ceiling deal will do little or nothing to solve our economic woes. It’s going to take the next election before we can begin to start repairing the damage."

"The Obama administration is finally going to focus on jobs -- again. Jobs, jobs, jobs. And nothing says jobs like food stamps, unemployment insurance and a shiny new federal department of ... yes, jobs! 

"Some of you may find President Barack Obama's three-day campaign bus tour through Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois a considerable downer. Not that it's the president's fault. If it weren't for Japanese earthquakes, unpatriotic Republicans, Arab springs, European welfare states collapsing, market fluctuations, Lady Luck's being a complete witch -- you know, existence -- this mess could have been squared away months ago."

"Yesterday, while Texas Gov. Rick Perry was campaigning at the Iowa State Fair, a reporter from Politico.com asked him whether he was armed. Perry, a known gun owner and enthusiast, refused to answer the question. 

"That’s why it’s called ‘concealed,’" Perry told the reporter."

"[I]t’s possible that the Republican nominee, if he or she avoids stumbles and conditions remain as they are, can win just by running against the failed policies of the Obama Democrats. But that’s not necessarily enough to govern successfully. ... 

"Republicans are winning the argument over the Obama policies. But they aren’t yet making the strongest case for their own."

"Of all the endlessly repeated conventional wisdom in today’s Washington, the most lazy, stupid and ubiquitous is that our politics is broken. On the contrary. Our political system is working well (I make no such claims for our economy), indeed, precisely as designed — profound changes in popular will translated into law that alters the nation’s political direction. ... 

"The conventional complaint is that the process was ugly. Big deal. You want beauty? Go to a museum. Democratic politics was never meant to be an exercise in aesthetics. ... 

"Moreover, without this long ugly process, the debt issue wouldn’t even be on the table. ..."

"DES MOINES, Iowa -- Things look different in the Midwest. Back in Washington, people are talking about President Barack Obama's poor showing this past week. (Did you see that Maureen Dowd has turned against him?) In Iowa, they're focused on the state Republicans' presidential straw poll in Ames next Saturday. And in Wisconsin, they just got through counting the votes in a recall election that has great national significance. ... 

"Wisconsin Republicans won, and [GOP Presidential Candidate Michele] Bachmann has been surging despite the fact that their opponents raised and spent much more money and despite the ridicule and rancor of the chattering classes. They are evidence that out here in the Midwest, and in the nation generally, there are a lot of little people -- somebodies -- who want to see big government reined in."