Economic conditions are getting better, or so it would seem if you read today's Associated Press story at the ABCNews.com website titled "Weekly US Jobless Aid Applications Dip to 370,000."  Yes, indeed, those many initiatives of President Barack Obama are finally kicking in.  But you may be somewhat confused if you had also read last week's AP article on ABCNews.com.  That was headlined "US Unemployment Aid Applications Stay at 370,000."  How could the number "dip" to 370,000 if it were already at 370,000?

Every Thursday the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration turns out a press release reporting the previous week's jobless claims.  Today's release, as last week's release, revised the number of jobless claims reported earlier upward.  Interestingly, every single press release issued this year revises the previous week's number upward.  Talk about coincidences.  Human error is understandable, but you'd think that at least once in a while they'd have to make a downward revision.  Not in the Age of Obama.

The AP, ABCNews.com stories, however, don't mention DOL's constant revisions, which would provide necessary context for readers.  Nor do other mainstream media outlets.  They should.         

Forget those polls.  In the mainstream media, there's always good news  for President Barack Obama.  So it is on the Minneapolis StarTribune's Web  site.  An Associated Press article appears  under the headline "Voters weathering economic downturn sticking with Obama — because they like him" and includes this heartening news:

People who have lost their jobs or homes during Obama's  presidency nonetheless say they want him to succeed and, what's more, they're  working to help re-elect him because of the affinity they feel for him.

And how did the AP arrive at this conclusion in its 31-paragraph  story?  They talked to people, that's how.  Specifically, the article  includes quotes from two, count'em, two women who have lost their jobs, one  woman who has lost her house, and one woman who has a law degree but "cobbles  together work as a caterer, cake decorator and office manager."  The AP  supplemented its exhaustive research by talking to a few Democratic operatives,  to assure an objective and complete analysis no doubt.

Let's see. There are currently  14 million unemployed Americans, an increase of  2.4 million since Obama took office.  Last year, foreclosure filings  were reported on a record 2.9 million properties.  Yet the Associated Press interviews four people  and reports they and others hit by the Obama Depression are "working to help  re-elect him."  Guess they just couldn't find anyone who isn't.

Yes, indeed.  There's always good news for Obama.  The mainstream  media would have it no other way.

Since leaving the White House, he's logged millions of miles and visited dozens of countries on missions to wipe out diseases, mediate conflicts, advocate for human rights and monitor elections. He's built a legacy that few, if any, American ex-presidents can match.

Writer Greg Bluestein found a few observers to comment on the wonders of Mr. Jimmy:

Walter Mondale, his vice president, says that Carter took the political heat up front "so we could all be better off." Andrew Young, Carter's ambassador to the United Nations, says it might take a few more decades for historians to realize the impact of Carter's term in office.

"It took 100 years to understand Jefferson. It took 100 years for people outside the North to understand Lincoln. And it's got to take at least 50 years to understand Carter," says Young.

And Douglas Brinkley, a Rice University history professor who has written a book about Carter, says Carter's presidency may be more fondly remembered overseas than at home.

"Pick the country - they view him as one of the most successful presidents," said Brinkley. "He has helped America's image around the world because he's been able to make everyone trust him. And he earns that trust because he's honest"

Before buying into this effort to rehabilitate the reputation of - until Barack Obama came along - the worst president in many decades, we may want to reflect on Carter's post-presidency.  The late New York Democratic Senator Patrick Moynihan had Carter's number in 1980: "Being unable to distinguish between our friends and our enemies, Carter has adopted our enemies' view of the world."  When the first President Bush asked for United Nations action in the Persian Gulf, Carter wrote to world leaders trying to block it.  Even Carter later admitted his effort "was not appropriate perhaps."  According to ABC News earlier this year:

In the 90s (President Bill) Clinton was said to resent some of Carter’s freelance diplomacy.

In a 1998 Time Magazine piece, Lance Morrow wrote of Carter:

Some of his Lone Ranger work has taken him dangerously close to the neighborhood of what we used to call treason.

Long proclaiming his unswerving devotion to human rights, Carter has over the years cozied up to the likes of Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega and Yasser Arafat.  National Review Online's Jay Nordlinger observed in 2002:

While in North Korea, Carter lauded Kim Il Sung, one of the most complete and destructive dictators in history. Said Carter, "I find him to be vigorous, intelligent,...and in charge of the decisions about this country" (well, he was absolute ruler). He said, "I don't see that they [the North Koreans] are an outlaw nation." Pyongyang, he observed, was a "bustling city," where shoppers "pack the department stores," reminding him of the "Wal-Mart in Americus, Georgia."

The Associated Press is correct in one point:  Carter's established quite a legacy for himself.  But it's far from an admirable one and, if we're fortunate, other former presidents won't try to match it.

Obama had sought the government to run a health insurance organization to help cover the nation's almost 50 million uninsured, but he never made it a deal breaker in a broad set of ideas that has Republicans unified in opposition.

Not a deal breaker?  It certainly seemed to be one as recently as last month.  On July 20, The Washington Post's Web site included Ezra Klein's report, "Obama Says Health-Care Reform 'Must' Include Public Option."  Cited is Obama's radio address of that week, in which the president declared:

(A)ny plan I sign must include an insurance exchange: a one-stop shopping marketplace where you can compare the benefits, cost and track records of a variety of plans - including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest - and choose what's best for your family.

Any plan must include a public option.  The language is unambiguous.  Except in ObamaWorld apparently.  Now we're told it was never really a deal breaker.

Conservatives have been frustrated by mainstream media efforts to at times rewrite history to Barack Obama's benefit.  Here they go again.