Simple question: Why has President Obama not made jobs and the economy THE central focus of his presidency?
Yes, I realize that a president needs to be able to do more than one thing at a time. Obviously, no president can afford to spend 100% of his time on just one issue.
And, sure, it's not as if President Obama has ignored the jobs issue. From the Recovery Act to the push for clean energy to the payroll tax holiday to somewhat regular trips outside the Beltway to factories and industries around the country, it's been A priority.
But, with the economy still sputtering and the job situation apparently worsening again, it's hard to make the case that it has been President Obama's TOP priority. And, that fact alone threatens his reelection more than anything else.
Everyone knows that the central argument Republicans will make in the 2012 election is that President Obama has not turned the economy around and that since his presidency began the unemployment rate has risen from around 7.7% to 9.2% today.
Yes, they'll mention the out-of-control spending in Washington. And they'll complain about regulations. And about how the health care bill is flawed (unless Romney is the nominee). But, that's not how they'll try to win the debate. The most potent charge they'll try to make is that Obama has made a bad economy worse.
Fair charge? No, of course not. But, it's the charge they'll make and I don't understand why Obama and the Dems aren't doing more to innoculate themselves from this political vulnerability. It's bad politics and bad policy.
Sure, the unemployment rate could improve a bit by next year -- maybe. But, it could also get worse. Job creation has been down the last couple of months, the public sector continues to shed jobs, and corporate America continues to sit on piles of cash rather than pump that money back into capital investments to get the economy really going again.
Consumers continue to pay down debt and save money rather than spend -- long term, this is a great thing, but it's doing nothing to help the short-term jobs situation.
The housing market is in a double dip decline, meaning more middle class families will see more of their hard-earned equity evaporate. And, with the Fed signalling that it will start tightening monetary policy, the stimulus of low interest rates and cheap money could be running dry.
In the face of these realities, I just don't understand why President Obama and Congressionnal Democrats aren't getting out in front of this. Why don't we have a jobs bill? Why don't we lay out a clear jobs agenda? Why isn't President Obama barnstorming the country (as President Bush did to sell the war in Iraq) charging that Republicans just aren't interested in the employment of the American people?
E.J. Dionne has it exactly right in today's column:
The most obvious problem is unemployment...
There is no mystery about the steps government could take. Ramping up public works spending is a twofer: It creates jobs upfront and provides the nation’s businesses and workers the ways and means to boost their own productivity down the road...
President Obama knows this. "As we've seen that federal support for states diminish, you've seen the biggest job losses in the public sector," he said in his July 11 news conference. "So my strong preference would be for us to figure out ways that we can continue to provide help across the board."
So why not do it? "I'm operating within some political constraints here," Obama explained, "because whatever I do has to go through the House of Representatives."
Excuse me, Mr. President, but if you believe in this policy, why not propose it and fight for it? Leadership on jobs is your central job right now. Let the Republicans explain why they want more cops and teachers let go, or local taxes to rise.
Exactly. And the Dems have plenty of ammunition.
Since Republicans took the House and picked up seats in the Senate, 23 bills have been signed into law. Nine of these were frivolous bills to rename post offices and other federal buildings and another six bills were process votes to extend existing legislation.
Four of the remaining eight focused on airport and transportation extensions, three dealt with intelligence issues (FISA, PATRIOT, and Intelligence Authorization), and the other one dealt with a minor tax code adjustment.
That's a terrible record. TERRIBLE! This should be talking point number one in every single interview, cable show appearance, town hall meeting, editorial board interview, etc that every single Democrat has between now and the 2012 election.
Yet, that's not what I'm seeing. Where is the fight? Where is the vision? Where is the push for jobs?
Yes, of course the Republicans will block everything. Great. Let them. In fact, make them oppose a robust jobs bill. Obama and the Democrats could adopt the Truman mantra blamin a do nothing Congress in a time of weak economic growth and high unemployment.
I'm not an economist, but these are the three main points I'd like to see made across the country:
-- Innovation is the engine for growth and an innovation plank should be the center piece of our agenda.
-- Clean energy is the fastest growing sector in our economy and now employs more people than coal, oil and the rest of the fossil fuel industry. This is THE global economic opportunity of the 21st century and should be a major goal for our jobs agenda.
-- Infrastructure is crumbling and we need a 21st century infrastructure reinvestment program.
The details can be sorted out. But the point is we should be fighting for three things right now: jobs, jobs, jobs. I don't get why we're not doing more with this.