Job growth may finally be catching up to the roaring economy, as 308,000 jobs were added in March:

U.S. payrolls grew at the fastest pace in nearly four years in March, the government said Friday, in a report that soared past Wall Street's expectations and could play a pivotal role in Fed policy and the presidential election. ... Payrolls outside the farm sector grew by 308,000 jobs in March, the Labor Department reported, compared with a revised gain of 46,000 in February.

When these numbers were released, stock prices jumped and the bond market dropped, indicating that Wall Street was surprised at the strength of the new job creation. It's hard to understand why. Capital investment jumped upward the past few months, indicating that businesses were gearing up for higher production that would require higher employment.

Now that the economic recovery is an undisputable fact and job growth seems to be catching up to it, the Democrats are in real trouble in November. They managed to inadvertently shore up the case for pre-emptive action by trumpeting the testimony of Richard Clarke while pointing out the Clinton's reluctance to engage in it. Now they have an unlikable and inconsistent candidate at the top of the ticket running against a war president and an expanding economy.

Good luck.

UPDATE: The Commissar notes that Atrios, according to his own calculations before the report was released, now acknowledges that the Bush tax cuts are working. I wonder if Atrios will actually agree with himself, or twist into a Kerry-like pretzel to dispute his own criterion.

UPDATE II: Okay, I've just been over to Eschaton to check out the comments ... and I feel like I need to take a shower. Here's one of Atrios' readers, suggesting (with nary a rebuke) that Blackwater Security has some openings, yuk, yuk. yuk. On his blogads, there's this: "George Bush and Karl Rove expect to lose Florida this year. Insidiously, they're targeting Minnesota, replacing lost electoral votes."

Can someone explain to me what's so insidious about a presidential candidate campaigning in Minnesota and trying to win? Certainly, that has to be less insidious than glorying in the brutal murders of four of your own countrymen.

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