When the November jobs report came out this week showing unemployment at 10 percent, we could have sworn we heard the White House press secretary quietly humming “Happy Days are Here Again!” Officially, Robert Gibbs was more restrained, saying he thought “the numbers today show that we continue to make much-needed progress in getting this economy going again and in getting the right trend going in hiring.” But one look at the Obama agenda shows Gibbs’ boss is mainly interested in more government, not more jobs.

Take the stimulus. In January 2008, unemployment stood at 4.9 percent, so President Bush felt inspired to work with House Speaker Nanvy Pelosi, D-Calif., to pass a $168 billion economic stimulus bill. One year later, 3.5 million jobs had been lost, even as unemployment rose to 7.6 percent. So President Obama pushed through a new $787 billion stimulus package, promising it would keep unemployment below 8 percent and “create or save” 3.5 million jobs. If Congress didn’t pass it, he warned, unemployment would rise to 9 percent by 2010. Those were the days.