WASHINGTON - Over the long, hard course of Barack Obama's painfully slow, job-scarce, sub-par economy, he may have set a record for persistent media reports that his shaky recovery was finally showing signs of strength. This week, the president's economic cheerleading squad was back on the field again, applauding new data showing housing prices hitting the highest level in five years, rising consumer confidence and a bullish stock market rally that pushed the Dow to record highs. Once again, the news media's euphoria was splashed across the front pages of the nation's newspapers and led the TV nightly news shows....
