A lot of the third-quarter GDP growth was the result of temporary government stimulus like the cash for clunkers and new home buyer tax credits (which were recently extended into 2010). Consumer spending grew by 3.4%, the best since early 2007, largely because people were buying new cars in July and August under the CARS and new car tax deduction programs. Sales have since fallen back. Residential construction leapt by 23.4%, the first advance since the end of 2005, helped by an $8,000 tax credit for buyers of new homes. But new-home sales dipped by 3.6% in September, as the deadline to qualify for the credit loomed. Of course the statistics the government and Obama administration officials discuss are the positive ones.

Similarly, the Obama administration released the most detailed information yet on the jobs created by the stimulus. Of the 640,239 jobs recipients claimed to have created or saved so far, officials said, more than half — 325,000 — were in education. Most were teachers' jobs that states said were saved when stimulus money averted a need for layoffs. Yet many have cited the high unemployment figure, at 9.8 percent, as proof of the failure of the stimulus, which they voted overwhelmingly opposed.