Newly released figures on jobs and housing belabor the obvious; the president's stimulus bill isn't "stimulating" anything except perhaps Democratic party interest groups who are on the government gravy train.

The Labor Department is reporting that initial claims for unemployment benefits was at 640,000 last week, up from a revised figure of 613,000 from the week before. This is slightly above the 635,000 expected.

And the realtors association is reporting that housing news is even grimmer (if that's possible). Housing sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 4.5 million - significantly below the 4.7 million expected.

"Too soon! Too soon!" the liberals will chirp. Well, if Obama can tick off economic stats and take credit for the improvement they show then by God, he is going to take the blame when the bad news hits the fan.

And that bad news on jobs and housing is apparently going to keep rolling in. No doubt our president will also say it's "too soon" to judge his stimulus bill - until some more decent numbers appear at which point he will crow like a cock on a barnyard fence about how bright the future will be under his stewardship.

Gag me.