As the saying goes, when your neighbor loses his job, it’s a recession, but when you lose yours, it’s a depression. When Debbie Wasserman-Schultz got a new job as chair of the Democratic National Committee, it became an “economic turnaround.” And when the RNC saw how Wasserman-Schultz handled herself in the media, it became boom times indeed for the GOP. Yesterday the Republican Party issued another in its series of ads featuring the ridiculous claims of economic turnaround while unemployment has gone up rather than down the last two months, economic indicators are all declining, and Wall Street has its arms wrapped firmly around its capital waiting for the regulatory storm to abate. Heck, not even David Gregory bought this line:

Obviously, Wasserman-Schultz has credibility issues, so Barack Obama rode to her rescue yesterday. Why should we believe the Florida Congresswoman when she says that Republicans “want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow days,” with which fact-checkers had a field day, and claims that prosperity has once again arrived in America? Because she’s, er, cute, or something:

“To Debbie Wasserman Schultz, thank you for letting me in your district,” the president said at a fundraiser held at a private home. “If you’re in the foxhole, you want Debbie alongside you, because not only is she charming and has that dazzling smile, but she’s tough as nails. And that’s what’s needed during challenging times.”

At another fundraiser at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, Obama also praised the DNC chairwoman.

“What do you guys think of our new DNC chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz?” the president asked the audience. “We are so thrilled to have her. You want Debbie on your side. She’s a mom, she’s got that cute smile and all that, but she is tough. Don’t mess with Debbie. We are so glad of her leadership.”

Cute and tough? Maybe. But she couldn’t tell the truth if it came with a pork-barrel bonus, and the RNC has a new, seemingly unlimited source of material to use in the next electoral cycle.