Scotty Got One Right

I was over at the White House website checking in to see if Tony Snow was on the job yet and read the opening to Scotty's last press conference...I don't know how he delivered this message, but it looks really good in the transcript:

Q Scott, 73 percent of Americans in a new poll say that the country is headed in the wrong direction, and six of ten conservatives say that the country is heading the wrong way. Why do you think that Americans have concluded that under this administration, things have taken such a bad turn?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I'm not sure that I'd agree with the word, "concluded." Let's keep in mind that these are snapshots in time. This President has an optimistic agenda for the future, and we are leading the way to get things done for the American people. The economy is growing strong. We saw the latest numbers come out today -- 138,000 new jobs created last month. We've seen more than 5.2 million jobs created over the course of the last two, two-and-a-half years since August of 2003. The unemployment rate remains at 4.7 percent. Consumer confidence is a good indicator to look at. It is at a four-year high. Productivity in the first quarter was up significantly. Wages are going up in that first quarter. Those are good signs for the economy.

So I think Americans are feeling good about the economy and they're showing it through their confidence in the direction the economy is headed. Consumer confidence, again, is a good indication to look at. That's what they're doing. That's how they're acting. And I think that's a more important indicator to look at.

The world is also in a time of great change. We are engaged in a global war on terrorism. This President has made his number-one priority the safety and security of the American people. And he is going to continue doing everything within his power, as long as he is in office, to save lives and prevent attacks from happening, and make the world a safer place. And we are making the world a safer place.

Now, I know that there's some things that the American people are anxious about. When you're engaged in a war, it makes people anxious about the future. But this country is on a solid track under this President because of his leadership. We have worked together to accomplish big things. We are on the advance in the war on terrorism. We are taking the fight to the enemy. We're no longer on the defensive. We've got the enemy on the run. The enemy is under pressure. And America is safer because of it. But there is more that we have got to do.

And also on the home front. One thing the President is going to be doing next week -- and I'll be traveling with him on this final trip of mine with the President, to Florida -- he'll be talking about the new Medicare prescription drug benefit that is available to seniors. And seniors are showing in overwhelming numbers that they are satisfied with the new prescription drug coverage. It's helping them realize significant savings.

So we're more interested in looking at the results, not the polls. The results we're achieving for the American people are good results, they're helping the American people realize a better quality of life, and they're putting us on the right track to a brighter future.

Who knew he had it in him?

Anyway...

Why bring this up? In light of the doom and gloom conversation going on over at the State of Ohio Blogger Alliance HQ blog, I thought it was an interesting way of expressing the reality of the situation we are facing.