"Obama Riles Dems by Spurning New Deal Complacency"

""The single most important jobs program we can put in place is a growing economy." So said Barack Obama at his surly press conference last week defending the tax deal he made with Republicans.

"The single most important anti-poverty program we can put in place is making sure folks have jobs and the economy is growing. We can do a whole bunch of other stuff, but if the economy is not growing, if the private sector is not hiring faster than it's currently hiring, then we are going to continue to have problems no matter how many programs we put in place."

It's hard to disagree. Robust economic growth solves a lot of fiscal and other problems.

But Obama's fellow Democrats, to whom he explicitly directed these comments, can be forgiven for being puzzled."