On Chris Matthews right now, Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm and Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter are singing the praises of Obama’s speech on creating jobs today.

Michigan’s unemployment rate is 15.1 percent; Philadelphia’s unemployment rate is 11 percent. You would have to look pretty hard to find two local officials who have presided over steeper or more dramatic losses of jobs; I’m not sure that praise from either of them should be all that reassuring.