Obama under pressure to create jobs

Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's pledge on Monday to save or create 600,000 jobs in 100 days demonstrated the pressure on him to show that a $787 billion economic stimulus plan is working.

Political analysts say the American public has shown faith and patience in Obama's ability to start turning the U.S. economy around, but that this patience has its limits.

* Since the stimulus plan was enacted by the Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress in mid-February, the Obama administration has been able to point to only 150,000 jobs that have been saved or created as a result of it.

The goal of the stimulus is to save or create 3 million to 4 million jobs over two years, and Obama made clear it will take some time to get there.

"We have a long way to go on our road to recovery but we are going the right way," Obama said in making his announcement.

* Despite the stimulus package, the U.S. unemployment rate is still rising -- although the pace of the rise slowed last month. The unemployment rate reached 9.4 percent in May, and 2.9 million jobs have been lost so far this year.

Republicans who opposed the stimulus from the outset were skeptical that it would ever create a lot of jobs.

"And I think the economy is just as likely to begin to recover on its own, wholly aside from this, before much of this has an impact. So I'm very skeptical that this massive sort of spending binge that we've engaged in is going to have much of an impact," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

* A new Gallup poll illustrated the pressure on Obama, who took office in January with high approval ratings as the country reeled in recession.

It said his personal approval rating was at an impressive 67 percent and his job approval a similar 61 percent, but that for the first time, 51 percent did not approve of his handling of federal spending, and 48 percent did not approve of his handling of the U.S. budget deficit.

(Editing by Frances Kerry)