Obama Adviser: Fundamentals of Economy are Sound

Christina Romer, one of President Obama's top economic advisers, echoed one of Sen. John McCain's most derided campaign quotes when she told David Gregory on yesterday's "Meet the Press," "The fundamentals [of the American economy] are sound in the sense that the American workers are sound, we have a good capital stock, we have good technology," she said. "We know that -- that temporarily we're in ... a bad situation."

California residents can get a fuller sense of her interpretation of the health of our economy and how it will be affected by continuing government actions when Romer appears at The Commonwealth Club of California in -- we hope -- the near future. She had been scheduled to appear at The Club tonight, but she had to postpone the speech when government business came up. (Keep watching The Club's web site for a new date when it is scheduled.)

The administration looked to be using the Sunday morning and evening public affairs circuit to paint the picture of an ailing economy beginning to stir. In addition to the president's comments earlier in the week and Romer's assessment yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told "60 Minutes" the recession would "probably" end this year. (View the video here.)

A story on Fox News makes note of the similar language used yesterday with that of McCain's uttered just days before the fall of Bear Stearns last September. It quotes White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs making a hard-to-understand argument in the administration's defense, "there's a definitional difference between sound and strong."

When Romer comes to the Bay Area, maybe they'll have the definitions figured out.