Obama's record retreat from doing something about jobs

Dana Milbank:

It sounds tailor-made for a GOP ad:

Unemployment hits 9.4 percent. President Obama flies to France.

Joblessness reaches 9.7 percent. Obama jets off to Denmark.

The rate of those out of work soars to 10.2 percent. Obama packs his bags for Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea.

Faced with the worst domestic economy in decades, the president has responded -- by setting a record for foreign travel. An Asian swing that began Thursday will bring his total this year to 20 countries in eight trips, according to CBS News's Mark Knoller, official statistician of the White House press corps.

That easily bests the previous record-holder, George H.W. Bush, who hit 14 countries in his first year. By the time he returns next week, Obama will have spent more than 12 percent of his presidency overseas -- and he still has another trip or two in the works for this year.

Yet there has not been a peep of criticism from the normally querulous opposition. A spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee confirmed Thursday that neither the party nor its lawmakers had taken on Obama for his globe-trotting. Indeed, one aspiring GOP presidential contender for 2012, Newt Gingrich, condemned Obama this week for not flying to Berlin to mark the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's toppling.

...

I think that by 2012 there will be an ad reflecting the retreat. It may even pop up in the 2010 races if Obama is out stumping for candidates. He may be so unpopular by next year that he will be too big a liability for Congressional candidates.

Milbank goes on to excuse the travel with some Bush bashing. But the Bush excuse is already warn thin and will be seen as especially week in response to the coming ads.