If the Obama administration has been skillful in one area, it has been convincing people that the current economy is the best they could hope for and to lower their expectations accordingly.

◼ The young and the jobless - Washington Examiner/Editorial

"No one could have fully repaired all of the damage he found in just four years," Bill Clinton said at the Democratic convention earlier this year. The message: Don't expect too much. This is the new normal.

Friday's jobless numbers indicate that message is penetrating. People are simply giving up on this economy....

For men 20 and over, the labor participation rate has fallen from 75.2 percent when Obama took office to 73.2 percent today. For women 20 and over, it went from 60.4 percent to 58.4 percent today. College graduates can barely snag a job as a barista, so why bother?

The Obama recovery, if you can even call it that, has been one long period of young people simply giving up on finding a job in the first place....