Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Reporter's Note: Probably the single biggest challenge for President Obama, aside from keeping up with these letters, is lowering the unemployment rate.

Dear Mr. President,

Congratulations on the unexpected movement in the unemployment numbers. To have it tick down below 9 percent after all of these months of bad news certainly feels encouraging.

I know that the numbers are a lot more complex than they appear, and you know it, too. I realize that we have lost so many jobs that minor gains are really not enough to make up for the damage, unless the gains continue for a long time. And even if I didn’t know it, I’m sure a lot of our fellow citizens who are frantically looking for work would be happy to remind me. Still, seeing the unemployment rate move down is decidedly better than watching it move up.

And it is something to build on.
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