The President has been talking a lot of late about the bubble economy. Last month he mentioned “unstable bubbles” that threaten the economy, and the other day in his radio address he referred to “the bubble-and-bust mentality” that has made “a mess” of our economy.

We would feel better about Obama’s comments if there were any reason to think he has a clue about the role of the Federal Reserve in creating these bubbles and busts.

But experience teaches that the repeated use such terms and buzz phrases by party apparatchiks and presidents – Obama has talked bubbles four times in five days – means that they are nothing but focus-group tested talking points. Some research firm has been paid by the party to hook subjects up to machines and find out what words resonate with them by making their palms sweat and pupils dilate. That’s the high art of today’s politics.