Unemployment Rises to 10.2%, Stoking the Economic Debate

Over the near term, however, the Administration knows it must contend with unpleasant realities, thanks to that unsettling double-digit jobless rate: "We're in for a pretty dark period," says the Treasury official. But, anticipating that, the Administration's strategy has intentionally avoided overpromising. "Obama's numbers hold up because he doesn't oversell," the official says. "We need to be steady and say, We know this will work but it's going to take time. Ultimately we're pretty confident that we did the right things and that it will help."

The GOP plan is simpler: link the drive for health-care reform, to which the Democrats are now deeply wedded, to the continuing economic troubles. "From the very outset of this debate" over health care, McConnell said Thursday, "the Administration has rested its case for reform on the need to do something about the economy. The economy was in bad shape, the argument went. And reforming health care would make it better ... But somewhere along the way, the Administration got off track."

And both sides are wary of sounding too negative. The last thing a politician wants in a time of economic hardship is to appear as if there's no hope. "If the GOP are too much doom and gloom, that can work to our advantage," says the senior Treasury official. The Republicans seem already to know that. Says McConnell: "As Americans, we are united in our efforts to get the economy back on track and put more people back to work."

See the top 10 financial-crisis buzzwords.

(See TIME's yearlong look at Detroit.)