Here are the numbers, a sober and powerful counter-argument to any declaration that the recession is long over and good times are back for everyone. Poverty is up in the United States for the third consecutive year, the Census Bureau says, with 40 million people now afflicted. Median household income is stagnant at a little more than $43,000 a year. That, after three years of decline and still lower than it was in 1999. And the number of Americans without medical insurance is up, too, as it has been each year since 2001, to 45 million.

The President will tell people this:

"Because we acted, our economy since last summer has grown at a rate as fast as any in nearly 20 years," Mr. Bush said Thursday. "Since last August, we've added approximately 1.5 million new jobs."

What he won't say is that there are fewer jobs since he took office, the surplus he inherited is now a gargantuan deficit, and his lack of environmental and fiscal discipline has created problems that will take a generation to undo. And, btw, what's wrong with legalizing marriage between same-sex partners?