President Obama convenes a summit today to hear from a range of interested parties how he can goose the American economy to create more jobs. Yet, for weeks, virtually every White House employee with the power of speech has made clear that the president doesn't intend to increase the deficit, and that the idea of a second stimulus is a non-starter.

Boosting the economy without increasing government spending on jobs is squaring a circle, however. Standing athwart the prospects for a second stimulus is the universal belief that the government has already enacted a massive stimulus program, to the tune of $787 billion, even as unemployment has risen to 10.2 percent. If that's what $787 billion produces, the thinking goes, why bother to try again?

In fact, that spending has...