Is Dubya a Numerical Dyslexic? Is He Mathematically Challenged? I don't know. But he continues to have a major problem with numbers--or speaking the truth--as evidenced by the Associated Press article below:
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush distanced himself Wednesday from White House predictions that the economy will add 2.6 million jobs this year, the second embarrassing economic retreat in a week and new fuel for Democratic criticism.
"Now they're already walking backwards on their own predictions," Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry said in Ohio, where unemployment has risen from 3.9 percent to 6 percent since Bush took office.
The jobs controversy came on the heels of White House economist N. Gregory Mankiw's assertion that "outsourcing" American jobs overseas was good for the U.S. economy in the long run. Bush, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republicans quickly disavowed Mankiw's remarks, and the economist had to apologize for a "lack of clarity."
Jobs are a sensitive political issue for Bush as he fights to keep his own job in a second term. The economy has lost 2.2 million payroll jobs since Bush took office, the worst job-creation record of any president since Herbert Hoover.
The forecast of 2.6 million new jobs was contained in the annual Economic Report of the President, a 412-page volume of charts, graphs and text that predicted a bright economic future. The forecast came under special scrutiny after Treasury Secretary John Snow and Commerce Secretary Don Evans refused to repeat the optimistic prediction as they toured Washington and Oregon to promote the president's economic programs.
Bush himself avoided embracing the 2.6 million number when asked about it Wednesday. "I think the economy is growing," Bush said. "And I think it's going to get stronger." He said he was pleased that 366,000 jobs have been added since August.
"We are interested in reality," presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said. ...
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, said, "President Bush is rapidly becoming the permanently surprised president. He is surprised that every economic prediction that he and his administration make does not pan out."
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill, a senior adviser in the Clinton White House, said, "This president faces a credibility gap with his own economic team that's as wide as the employment gap for millions of American workers."
McClellan said the economic forecast was simply the work of "number crunchers." He said Bush - who bills himself as the first president with a Master of Business Administration degree - was not a statistician or predictor.
