National unemployment rate the month that the stimulus was signed into law: 8.1 percent.

National unemployment rate today: 9.4 percent.

Obama, today: “President Barack Obama promised Monday to deliver more than 600,000 jobs through his $787 billion stimulus plan this summer, with federal agencies pumping billions into public works projects, schools and summer youth programs.”

Obama’s staff, today: “Obama is ramping up his stimulus program this week even as his advisers are ramping down expectations about when the spending plan will affect a continuing rise in the nation’s unemployment.”

It’s troubling when the left hand doesn’t know what the further left hand is doing.