In case you didn’t get the message the first several dozen times, President Obama wants to remind you that he inherited a problem. He has publicly pointed his finger at the previous administration at least 71 times since his inauguration in order to excuse the economic slowdown, unemployment, housing mess and budget crisis that persist today, 2 1/2 years into his presidency. At various times, Obama has declared that he inherited “a fiscal disaster,” “an economic mess and a fiscal mess,” “a terrible mess,” “a big mess,” and “a real significant problem.” He has called it “the worst recession since the Great Depression,” “an economic crisis as deep and as dire as any since the Great Depression,” and “the most profound economic emergency since the Great Depression.” Ignore the fact that, as a senator, Obama voted (when he wasn’t absent, owing to campaign appearances) for much of the debt he now claims to have inherited. We will further refrain from blaming him for an economic crisis that started before he entered the Oval Office. Obama’s accountability concerns his failure to get the job done since then. This week’s anemic economic reports provide the latest in a steadily lengthening parade of news that demonstrates Obama’s policies not only have not produced the promised recovery, but very likely have retarded it. As the maxim goes, insanity consists of doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result.