All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

Mark Knoller is a White House Correspondent for CBS News.

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There seemed to be a spring in the step of President Bush as he and the First Lady walked to Marine One this morning for the flight to Camp David.

It’s his 61st birthday – and about a hundred guests of White House staffers had been invited to give him a friendly send-off as he got a head-start on his weekend at 9:15 A.M.

As birthday gifts go, there was good economic news for him this day. The Bureau of Labor Statistics was out this morning with its job numbers for June.

It reported 132,000 new payroll jobs last month – more than most analysts expected. And the national unemployment rate was steady at a healthy 4.5%.

“We are happy about that,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto was quick to volunteer at the start of his morning briefing for reporters.

The White House trumpets the figures, saying they bring to more than two million – the number of new jobs created over the past year. Further, said Fratto, the nation has now enjoyed “46 consecutive months of strong job growth.” He said there’s been “strong wage growth” as well.

But on this birthday, Mr. Bush presides over a war in Iraq that’s now well into its fifth year. And he’s losing the support of key Republicans...