Recovery Summer

The White House is trumpeting a "summer of economic recovery," but it could soon be facing a winter of discontent.
President Barack Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden and other officials have visited far-flung locales such as Holland, Michigan, Louisville, Kentucky, and Barre, Vermont, to see first-hand some of the projects financed by an $862 billion stimulus package passed last year.
While economists generally agree the recession would have been worse without the government spending spree, it's a hard sell to voters with unemployment at 9.5 percent and unlikely to fall much by November's congressional elections.
"I think it's a very risky strategy to use the term 'recovery' and the promise and claim of recovery when for many Americans, the evidence is simply not there," said Julian Zelizer, a history professor at Princeton University.
White House officials are trying to frame the mid-term elections as a choice between Republicans, whose policies the administration says caused the economic mess, and Democrats, who are trying to dig the country out.
Dana Milbank, a Washington Post columnist, pointed out this wasn't exactly the stuff of catchy bumper sticker slogans. "Vote Democratic. Things might have been even worse without us" probably won't sway voters, he wrote.

Read more: Reuters...