Dow delivers verdict on Obama’s jobs plan

Hillary Clinton rang the bell of the New York Stock Exchange and when I last checked the Dow had almost fallen 3 per cent.

It is not her fault, and you can’t even blame the terrorists and their specific but unconfirmed plans to do something terrible.

Sadly, the markets have drooped because they believe Obama’s jobs initiative won’t dig America out of the economic quicksand.

Banking stocks have once again led the plunge. Perhaps Wall Street will get its comeuppance after all.

Politically, Obama’s speech was shrewd. There is a lot in it the Republicans will find difficult to vote down, a point the President didn’t stop hammering home today when he took his speech and his new-found anger on the campaign trail to Richmond, Virginia.

Politically, it may work. Economically, it may not. And that’s what counts. If the latest stimulus does not yield tangible results by next spring, Obama may be hitting the speaker’s circuit sooner than he would like.