By Bob Turner

(AXcess News) Washington - President Obama's White House staff were unusually soft on their take of January unemployment figures after the US Department of Labor reported that unemployment fell to 9.8%.  Yet the GOP had a different view, saying the Democrats stimulus plan had been inaffective in creating jobs - as Obama had promised - and that come November, many Democrats would find themselves "out of a job".

The level of confidence in the Obama administration seemed to be echoed on Wall Street as well with the Dow barely managing to claw its way back into positive territory at the close after plunging more than 100 points on top of Thursday's greater-than 200 point loss.  If it hadn't of been for a rally in tech stocks, the market would have finished the session in the red.

"Ordinarily, if you see the nation's unemployment picture improve stocks usually rally," said one New York trader as he left the floor.  But that wasn't the case after the Department of Labor released January payroll figures showing a drop in the unemployment rate of 0.2%.

Republicans blame Obama

House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio) said the Democrats' near-trillion dollar economic bailout was intended to turn the economy around.  Instead, says Boehner, 3.3 million Americans are still out of work.

"Washington Democrats promised that the trillion-dollar 'stimulus' would create jobs immediately, keep the unemployment rate from going above 8 percent and that 90 percent of the jobs created would be private-sector jobs," said Boehner.  "None of that has occurred, and the Obama Administration's job-killing policies are only making matters worse."

 "Americans are asking 'where are the jobs?' but all they are getting from out-of-touch Washington Democrats is more government and more debt," asserted Boehner.

Democrats see the glass half-full

Obama economic advisor Christina Romer gave a soft take on Friday's payroll figures for January saying the results indicate a 'gradual healing' of the labor market, while she touted Obama's plans for pushing the US economy even further into debt as an answer to the nation's unemployment situation.

"Even as today's numbers contain signs of the beginning of recovery, they are also a reminder of how far we still have to go to return the economy to robust health and full employment," said Romer.

"The President has called on Congress to enact responsible, targeted actions to jump-start job creation.  His proposals for a small business jobs and wages tax cut and a new program to encourage small business lending are important steps to help the businesses that are essential to robust job creation."

Liberal lawmakers take credit

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) defended Democrats Friday, firing back before Democratic National Committee members, "And what a good morning it is as was indicated by the jobs figures this morning."

The Democratic leader compared January's payroll figures to the prior year, pointing to the numbers themselves as to say the bailout plan didn't leak after all, as Republicans contend.

"Our Recovery Act was an important part in making that change," she said.

The Senate is due to take up an $80 billion jobs bill on Monday but while the bill may get a fast rush through the Democratic majority the new Republican Senator from Massachusetts Scott Brown pushed for a quick appointment in time to take up residency in the late Ted Kennedy's office, which had to rile many Democrats.  Still, the newest lawmaker to set foot on Capitol Hill has promised to vote NO on any spending he feels doesn't fairly represent taxpayers.

Sen. Brown is expected to join Republicans in a filibuster over Obama's former union lawyer nominee to the Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board.

While Pelosi addressed Democrats Friday morning, Senate Majority Speaker Harry Reid (Nevada) was nowhere to be found, having ducked out of the city early to fly back to Las Vegas ahead of the incoming winter storm expected to dump up to two feet of snow on Washington DC - making it the second worst storm in history for the Capitol.  Republicans may, as a result, buy time Monday as the nation's Capitol digs itself out.