In trying to make the case that losing 4 million jobs since Obama took office is better than losing 9 million jobs if he had not got a stimulus bill passed, people accuse me of claiming that it is good to have lost 4 million jobs. The following explanation is how I try to emphasize that I am making no such claim.

As a parent and now a grandparent I am familiar with the long car trips with the constant question ‘Are we there yet?’

In this case the question has to do with reaching the goal of complete recovery from the recession.

No, we aren’t there yet, but we are getting closer. We are on the right road. If we turn back now, we will not get to where we want to go.

As a parent, I tried to be honest and never use the trick of saying, ‘It is just around the corner’. When it turns out not to be just around the corner, your credibility is destroyed and the trick won’t work again. It is better to say, No, we are not there yet, but we are on the right road and we will get there eventually. Look on the map to see how far we came from home and how close we are to the destination.

President Obama has this same realization. That is why he won’t pretend that the problem is solved. He just keeps explaining that we are on the right path and we will get there eventually.

He is trying to prevent people from giving up just as we are approaching sight of the destination. As soon as the destination is in sight, people’s excitement for continuing the journey will take over. Then it will not require much effort to keep them going forward on the road to success.