The original 1.2% retraction projection was touted by the Obama apologist media as evidence that the stimulus package had worked and the recession was coming to an end. I received countless messages and comments from leftists insisting that the number was evidence that the Obama economic policies were an unmitigated success.

Well, guess what. It turns out that the real GDP retraction was much, much worse than the Obama Administration had projected. It’s yet another strike against Barack Obama’s credibility in economic matters.

The Office of Management and Budget also forecasts that the U.S. economy will shrink 2.8 percent this year, worse than the 1.2 percent contraction the OMB projected in May. For next year, the budget office said the gross domestic product will grow 2.0 percent, less than the 3.2 percent expected in May. By 2011, the economy would be well on its way to recovery, growing at a 3.8 percent annual rate, according to the administration’s mid-year economic review, released this morning.

That’s not the only bad news, either. The White House has revised its projections for unemployment, the deficit, and the national debt. And their revisions weren’t exactly downward.

U.S. unemployment will surge to 10 percent this year and the budget deficit will widen to $1.5 trillion next year, reflecting a “deeper recession” than previously expected, White House budget chief Peter Orszag said…

The budget shortfall for 2010 will mark the second straight year of trillion-dollar deficits. The projected deficit for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 is higher than the $1.26 trillion forecast in May and reflects expectations economic growth will be slower this year and next because of “the severity of the crisis in the U.S. and in our trading partners,” said Christina Romer, White House chief economist, who along with Orszag briefed reporters on the report.

Say, wasn’t that $787 billion stimulus package — which Obama insisted must be passed immediately without being read — supposed to “save or create” millions of jobs? Wasn’t it supposed to provide shovel-ready spending projects that would bring about an economic recovery? Why, it’s almost like the whole thing was just a pork-filled barrel of waste intended to pay back Democratic special interests.

How can Americans believe the Obama Administration’s promises and projections on ObamaCare when it’s so reliably wrong on these matters? It’s safe to say that those are likely wrong, too.