Written By : William Teach

Poor Politico. They have to admit that not only has the economy not done well this year, but, that it is way too late for any sort of upturn to help doomed Democrats

Time’s up for Democrats looking for good news on the economy.

More bad news this week squelched any hope that President Barack Obama and his party might benefit from a glimmer of an improvement in the economic picture before Election Day.

Instead, it is a picture of a stalled recovery, reminding voters of the many promises by Obama and his top aides that better days were just around the corner.

Well, we all know that any promise by Barack has an expiration date. Usually about an hour after TOTUS has left the room.

Home prices, the Achilles heel of the economy, are falling again. Consumer confidence remains at levels usually associated with a recession. And on Friday, the government is expected to announce that economic growth was around 2 percent in July, August and September, less than half of what is normal in even a modest recovery.

Have you noticed that the “cute” stories about things such as “funemployment” have dried up, along with the serious ones about people simply giving up looking for work and being completely demoralized? Perhaps the media has realized that these stories are a) harming Obama and b) not going to get Obama and the Dems to institute legislation that will actually fix the problems.

One of the biggest mistakes that Obama made was predicting exactly how much his economic policies would turn around the economy and start creating jobs, according to Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution.

“One of the rules of public policy is that you don’t put a number and a date in the same sentence,” he said.

When you are spending a trillion dollars, you best have some sort of projected outcome, much like one does with an action or SMART plan. Of course, since most of the people who crafted and supported the Stimulus boondoggle have little to no experience in actual business, it is rather difficult to understand the principles and follow through with a wise plan:

1. Identify the problem
2. What actions will be undertaken?
3. Who owns the action?
4. When will it be completed?
5. What will be the results?

They got close, but, basically winged it, with no one checking their plan to see if it is workable. It was like if a 5 year old was asked to craft the plan

1. Identify the problem (the economy is tanking, and we have lots of cookies to distribute to our supporters)
2. What actions will be undertaken? (spend a trillion dollars on roads that do not need paving and/or repair, pay back our campaign supporters with double chocolate chip)
3. Who owns the action? (Not Me. And Sheriff Joe, who has run around the country making campaign appearances. Unicorns)
4. When will it be completed? (just in time for the 2010 mid-terms)
5. What will be the results? (“Hey, Joe, give me a big number.” “How’s 3 million and 8% sound?” “Perfect. I’m heading to Andrews to play 18. Call Bo if you need anything.”)

Of course, that almost makes it look like they had a plan. A really bad one, but, a plan. In reality, I would bet there is not even a draft or a deck out there.

“There is very little confidence in the economy out there, and obviously, that is weighing heavily in the elections,” said Holtz-Eakin.

There seems to be a section missing from that sentence, namely, “and obviously, Democrat policies have been utter failures, not too mention being extremely unpopular, so, that is weighing…….”

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach. Re-Change 2010!

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