PATHETIC – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  A report just out on the American economy gives no reason for cheers.  Where is this recovery we hear about?  From Bloomberg:

April 28 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. economy grew at a slower pace than forecast in the first quarter as consumer purchases cooled, home construction fell and government spending declined.

Gross domestic product rose at a 1.8 percent annual rate from January through March after a 3.1 percent pace in the last three months of 2010, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Economists projected 2 percent growth, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Higher gas prices prompted Americans to limit spending after they ramped up purchases in the prior three months.

It's those gas prices.  They'll get worse.  The president will urge us to run our cars on discarded Happy Meals.

Some economists are predicting that the figures will improve during the year, but it's hard to see how that can happen if fuel prices keep rising, especially as we get into home-heating season. 

Inflation is still reported low, but most Americans are unaware that fuel and food prices aren't included in the inflation index, an absurd way of reporting.  We see higher food prices every day.

Obama is going into the election season with a weak economy and promises unmet.  He's going in with a confused, losing foreign policy. 

But he is still favored to win by most political observers because the GOP just doesn't have, at least for now, a candidate who can out-campaign Obama, and the press will put its very large finger on the scale, as it did in 2008.

April 28, 2011