THE EXCUSE MACHINE IN MOTION, AND WELL OILED - AT 6:26 P.M. ET:  Even the AP, whose fronting for Obama has been choice, is beginning to get uneasy:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama assured the nation his recovery plan was on track Monday, scrambling to calm Americans unnerved by unemployment rates still persistently rising nearly four months after he signed the biggest economic stimulus in history.

Obama admitted his own dissatisfaction with the progress but said his administration would ramp up stimulus spending in the coming months. The White House acknowledged it has spent only $44 billion, or 5 percent, of the $787 billion stimulus, but that total has always been expected to rise sharply this summer.

''Now we're in a position to really accelerate,'' Obama said.

I certainly hope so.  But get this, from AP:

Neither the acceleration nor the jobs goal are new. Both represent a White House repackaging of promises and projects to blunt criticism that the effects haven't been worth the historic price tag. And the job estimate is so murky, it can never be verified.

COMMENT:  It is always so nice to see actual journalism.  We cherish each one of these rare moments.  If the economy doesn't show real improvement, and if the president cannot show how he will tame spending and debt, and his foreign policy tanks, the 2010 midterm elections can be as exciting as the one last year.  But not in ways that the Dems anticipate.

June 8, 2009