Under George Bush, the media’s R-word was “recession,” but under Barack Obama it’s “recovery. As economic indicators plunge, the mainstream media is going to comical lengths to soften the political blow for Obama.

Unemployment rose to 9.9 percent in the latest reports, but here’s The News & Observer‘s screaming print headline this morning: Job surge beats outlook.

In a story from the Tribune Washington Bureau, the lede tells us:

WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added an unexpectedly large number of jobs in April, the strongest hiring burst in four years. The 290,000 jobs were a welcome signal that companies are becoming more confident that the economy will continue to strengthen.Even more good news: The Labor Department also revised upward its tally of payrolls in February and March. It said Friday that the economy added 230,000 jobs in March, up from 162,000 previously estimated, and that employers created 39,000 jobs in February instead of cutting 14,000 positions. All told, payroll jobs have increased 573,000 in the first four months of this year.

It’s not until the third paragraph that you see this:

The less-good news: The government reported an uptick in the unemployment rate – to 9.9 percent from 9.7 percent in the first three months of this year. Most analysts didn’t see that coming either, but they didn’t view the increase as a sign of worsening conditions. Rather, they said it reflected the fact that many more out-of-work people, seeing better employment prospects, are rejoining the labor market.

Note that the reporter, Don Lee, can’t even bring himself to say “bad news,” he has to resort to the contortion of “less-good.” And he couldn’t bring himself to say “increase,” resorting to “uptick.” But “strong,” “burst,” and the ever-present “unexpectedly” are salted liberally through the story.

This happened a lot during the Bush administration, I’m sure you remember. On the contrary. Recall, if you will, the calamitous “R-word” stories that accompanied every indication that Christmas buying “only increased” by 2 or 3 percent.”

The Associated Press goes to similar lengths in its version of the story. It’s headline is “Burst of hiring aids recovery, but long slog ahead.”

To the AP, a rising unemployment rate under Obama is a good thing:

But people who had given up on finding jobs are gaining confidence, too, and are now looking for work. That’s why the unemployment rate rose from 9.7 percent to 9.9 percent and will likely go higher.

So, under Obama we have actual downward indicators, the most important ones, camouflaged by the media with spurious indicators, like the “surge” in hiring as a result of all the ACORN workers getting census enumerator jobs, frosted with White House Pollyanna spin.

Is there a special thesaurus that mainstream media reporters use when a Democrat is in office?

Jon Ham is vice president of the John Locke Foundation and publisher of Carolina Journal.