After President Barack Obama said, “The private sector is doing fine,” he later quickly regrouped. “The economy is not doing fine (emphasis added). That’s the reason I had the press conference.” But Obama said he was particularly concerned about losses in the public sector. The cluelessness is absolutely stunning. Obama is wrong about both the private and public sector.

Obama’s assessment of the economy reminds many of 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s characterization of the economy. In September 2008, the investment firm Lehman Brothers was collapsing. Wall Street was shaking as the yet-to-be-declared recession deepened, but McCain said: “I think, still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong. But these are very, very difficult times.”