Unemployment is President Obama’s Achilles’ heel as he and members of his administration heap steadily more debt, more regulation, and more spending on the as-yet-productive sectors of the American free enterprise system. Even so, there are limits: Government can force-feed laws and regulations down business’ throat, use tax dollars to pick winners and losers in the marketplace, and even take over entire industries with impunity, but it can’t force private-sector employers to hire more workers. Obama might just as well promise to squeeze greenbacks out of turnips.

Since Feb. 17, the day Obama signed his $787 billion economic stimulus bill, 2.7 million Americans have been laid off, with the largest job losses in construction, manufacturing, services, and transportation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only in government and the government-dominated health care sector are net new jobs being added. Many economists, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, predict the “official” 9.8 percent unemployment rate will hit 10 percent by the end of this year.