Economy criticism creeping up on Obama?

The Obama administration is facing some criticism lately over the number of jobs the Labor and Treasury Departments claim to have created or saved by way of the federal stimulus plan. The Labor Department is trying to account for a job creation ripple effect that boils down to the idea that one new job created can also create or save several other jobs... but in an only semi-measurable way.

In the WSJ article cited above, the author calls out the media in particular for not scrutinizing these claims further. While Obama's administration certainly isn't the first to trot out the fuzzy math in a tough situation, it does seem like the press is accepting these statistics without a lot of questions. However, if Obama's public approval rating on his handling of the economy continues to decline I would expect to see more news coverage criticizing these job statistics.

In a similar vein of criticism, the GOP seems to be formulating a strategy to leverage the national deficit against Obama and democrats during the 2010 and 2012 elections. In an article today published in Politico, some GOP leaders are pointing to the idea that the deficit could be Obama's achilles heel. If the stimulus package fails to deliver, they might have a pretty clear line of attack here.