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ENDANGERED Democrats beseech President Obama to focus on the problems at home. Republicans smelling blood attack him if he talks about anything but the recession. His own aides promise, from time to time, that his mission will consist of "jobs, jobs, jobs."

In fact, no president can focus exclusively on just one thing, and in any case there's not all that much Mr. Obama can do right now about "jobs, jobs, jobs." So we sympathize with the dilemma that gave birth to the mixed-message presidential address from the Oval Office on Tuesday night. But we worry about it, too.