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 Greetings, The newest jobs report was released this morning. Bottom line, if you are an optimist and like our president, the unemployment rate (now 8.6 percent) hasn't been this low since March of 2009. And revisions to previous jobs reports make the American economy look almost bullish. If you are feeling skeptical, look at the plunge in labor-force participation (the number of people trying to work). 315,000 people no longer consider themselves part of the working economy. As Jim Pethokoukis points out on Twitter, "11%: That would be the U-3 unemployment rate if laborforce was same size as when Obama took office in Jan. 2009" ROMNEY'S CLOSING ARGUMENT The big article driving this morning's discussion is from National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru who makes a closing argument for a Mitt Romney nomination as the best bet for Republican and conservative success. "Romney isn’t merely the candidate who is likely to win the Republican primaries. He’s the candidate who should win them," Ponnuru writes. The basic argument is that Romney has mostly flipped in the right's direction, and is a very competent campaigner. Ponnuru spends a lot of time explaining how a president Romney would be better for conservative causes than Obama. This is bar that Buddy Roemer and Gary Johnson could somersault over. Ponnuru continues: Weighed against the available alternatives, Romney comes out ahead — way ahead — because he is the only one of the primary candidates with a good shot at achieving a prerequisite for advancing a conservative agenda as president: namely, actually becoming president. Ponnuru acknowledges a number of Romney's weaknesses: his inconsistency, his support for "Obamacare in one state," and a lingering reticence to elect a Mormon. But Ponnuru misses Romney's biggest weakness - one that is fatal to his contention that Romney has achieved the prerequisite of being able to become President - Romney is utterly unlikable. If after five years of pandering to conservative, a highly disciplined campaign firing rhetorical Howitzers at Obama, and a debate record that looks flawless Romney remains this weak in an uninspiring GOP field, he has no hope in the general election. Flip-flops would be a sign of inconsistency in another candidate. In Romney, they seem to indicate a soullessness that makes people physically uncomfortable. When confronted about them directly by a Fox reporter, Romney resembled a malfunctioning robot more than he did a man. And then he compounded his mistake with pathetic complaints afterward. Does anyone think he'll do better against Obama? Romney may be the nominee, but he won't have won anything. It will have fallen to him by default. He may even become president this way if the Euro crisis infects American financial institutions and fatally wounds Obama. But counting on an Obama fumble is not exactly an inspiring position for conservatives to be in. FROM THIS MORNING: Shorter David Brooks: Prosperity is a cultural and spiritual artifact. So German's aren't selfish in trying to maintain faith that effort yields reward. We should sympathize with Germany. Shorter Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Germany is crucifying Europe to maintain its low inflation, the selfish bastards! Germany should sympathize with Europe and the world. Conservative Read: Inflation by any other name, from The American Conservative Liberal Read: How the IMF Got Keynesian Again, from the New Republic THIS DAY IN POLITICS On December 2, 2001, Enron filed for bankruptcy - setting off a chain of events that embroiled the Bush administration in scandal, took down one of the Big Five American accounting firms, Arthur Anderson, and in turn inspired Congress to pass the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting reform. On December 2 1861, Abraham Lincoln granted the Gen. Henry Halleck the privilege of suspending habeus corpus in the district of Missouri - a dubiously Constitutional move he had already made to deal with secessionist elements in Baltimore. TWEETS OF THE DAY From Slate's newest edition, Matthew Yglesias, referring to the Brooks column above: 
From, NY Times resident number-cruncher Nate Silver, on the jobs numbers: 
WHAT'S NEXT Non-candidate Mike Huckabee tries to play role of social-conservative kingmaker this weekend has he hosts a premiere of the Citizen United produced documentary "The Gift of Life" with candidates Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Michelle Bachmann. The payroll tax vote is coming and according to sources close to the action, "Not even God could stop the extension of the payroll tax cut." The only question is how to offset the revenue losses, or in Washington speak: "how to pay for it." Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook. | 
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