At a campaign event for Barack Obama in Ohio earlier today, President Bill Clinton acknowledged that Mitt Romney’s main argument is, indeed, true — the economy “isn’t fixed.”

Governor Romney’s argument is, ‘We’re not fixed, so fire him and put me in.’ It is true, we’re not fixed. When President Obama looked into the eyes of that man, who said in the debate, ‘I had so much hope four years ago, and I don’t now,’ I thought he was gonna’ cry — because he knows that it’s not fixed.

As the Romney camp responded shortly thereafter, the numbers are what they are, and no amount of spin on even seemingly-piddling unemployment “improvements” can change that (via the Weekly Standard):

“We agree with former President Bill Clinton.  The economy has not been fixed under President Barack Obama.  Today, more than 23 million Americans are struggling for work, poverty has increased and food stamps are at record levels.  Mitt Romney believes we can do better by creating 12 million new jobs with higher take-home pay, cutting spending to put our nation on course for a balanced budget, and actually fixing our economy.”

But here’s the real problem with President Clinton’s appeal: He’s purposefully confusing “empathizing” and “governing.” Sure, President Obama might feel very deeply for the many people who’ve lost their jobs and are struggling to make ends meet, and he probably really wants to make it easier for those people to find employment again — any non-sociopathic human being probably feels about the same way, and the rest of us don’t even have presidential elections to win. But as the results of the past four years suggest, merely wanting to fix the economy does not in any shape, manner, or form mean you have the competence to do so. President Obama knows it isn’t fixed, but he has no real second-term agenda beyond continuing the policies that have kept our economy in a state of stagnation throughout his presidency; and we’re supposed to give him “four more years!”, because he feels badly? If this, Big Bird, and binders equate to some of his top surrogates’ best available arguments in the final three weeks of the campaign, heads up, Chicago: You’ve got a problem.