Mitt Romney responds to jobs report with glee

The only thing more pathetic than Mitt Romney's say-nothing speech to the Republican convention last week was his joyous statement this morning embracing today's tepid jobs report:

'If last night was the party, this morning is the hangover," Romney said. "For every net new job created, nearly four Americans gave up looking for work entirely. This is more of the same for middle class families who are suffering through the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression.

"After 43 straight months of unemployment above 8%, it is clear that President Obama just hasn't lived up to his promises and his policies haven't worked," Romney continued. "We aren't better off than they were four years ago. My plan for a stronger middle class will create 12 million new jobs by the end of my first term. America deserves new leadership that will get our economy moving again.'

Leaving aside Romney's desperate need for a good copy editor ("We aren't better off than they were four years ago"?), we actually are better off than we were four years ago. We're not yet where we want to be, but the difference between four years ago and today is dramatic.

Four years ago, everything was heading in the wrong direction, and fast. Between August 2008 and August 2009, we lost 6.8 million jobs and the unemployment rate skyrocketed from 6.1 percent to 9.6 percent. We haven't fully recovered from that economic crisis, but as this chart shows, we're headed in the right direction:

We're not yet where we want to end up, but we're better off than four years ago. Republicans made an epic mess of the economy, but it's being cleaned up. And the last thing we need is to put them back in charge.