President Obama

Another Non-Fact Fact Check

Guess who?

Politifact. Jared Bernstein caught a doozy from their fact-check of last night's State of the Union.

The president:

“In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs. Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005.”

Politifact said this was "false." Only, it wasn't false. It was absolutely true. They're reasoning?

In his remarks, Obama described the damage to the economy, including losing millions of jobs “before our policies were in full effect.” Then he describe [sic!] the subsequent job increases, essentially taking credit for the job growth. But labor economists tell us that no mayor or governor or president deserves all the claim or all the credit for changes in employment.

Okay, but the job creation is factual -- not "false." Who takes credit is a matter of political semantics. Presidents always take credit for solid economic growth and job creation.

Look, this isn't about partisanship. When they blow the whistle on the president and their assessment holds up, great. But more often, Politifact is really stretching the bounds of fact-checking so they can seem more even-handed. It's a self-conscious reaction to accusations of bias and, therefore, it's inherently inaccurate.