When Sen. Obama, on the campaign trail, made his gaffe about having been in 57 states (and having two to go), I think most of us figured it was just the sort of thing that happens when someone’s brain is wearing down from too much stress and too much travel. Given the fuzzy math skills his administration is showing in trying to track the stimulus, though, I’m not so sure; there seems to be a pattern here:
Here’s a stimulus success story: In Arizona’s 9th Congressional District, 30 jobs have been saved or created with just $761,420 in federal stimulus spending. At least that’s what the website set up by the Obama Administration to track the $787 billion stimulus says.
There’s one problem, though: There is no 9th Congressional District in Arizona; the state has only eight Congressional Districts.
There’s no 86th Congressional District in Arizona either, but the government’s Recovery.gov Web site says $34 million in stimulus money has been spent there.
In fact, Recovery.gov lists hundreds of millions spent and hundreds of jobs created in Congressional districts that don’t exist.
I appreciate the willingness of ABC, home of Jake Tapper, to report this. Read the whole thing—it’s beyond belief.