President Obama's jobs plan is positively favored across America [poll: Gallup.com].
It is especially approved by Democrats, whom he desperately needed to shore up his waning support.
My biggest complaint with it is that it took him 2 1/2 years to propose it. This ought to have been his vision from day one. But waiting until 14 months before the election may be the factor that helps it get passed. If it doesn't get passed, then it will still be fresh on everyone's minds when they consider changing congress and reelecting Obama.
3 of the 4 spending programs are so well liked, that the Republicants are going to have to go along with them. The bridge on I-64 crossing the Ohio river is closed, and that's not even the Kentucky bridge the president referred to in his address. People don't need another Minneapolis disaster to know bridge safety is paramount. Will the Republicants campaign on having voted against maintaining federal highways?
"Repairing roofs and windows" in schools is another basic necessity. Kids can't learn if they have to keep mittens and a jacket on all day to stay warm. And it's high time that we had an education overhaul equally sweeping as No Child Left Behind, but in a direction that improves the system instead of debasing it. Will the Republicants campaign on having voted against improving 30,000 schools?
But my favorite is the Republicants insistence that "All tax cuts are not created equal" when considering extending the payroll tax deductions. They want to argue that it's an effective economic stimulator only when you cut that tax for employers. Extending that tax cut for every single working employee is somehow ineffective in their minds, which is kind of a hard one to explain when you figure in these down times nearly 100% of that money is guaranteed to make its way back into the economy. I'd really like to see them campaign on THAT. I'd really like to see them describe how an economy works where raining extra profits on a company is going to give them the incentive to hire new employees to make products that other people can't afford to buy anymore.
So maybe, just maybe they'll be able to strip the unemployment benefits extension from the proposal, which Obama must have seen coming and shows that he's taking the stance of a good negotiator, asking for more than what he realistically expects.
As for the spending cuts, well we know the Republicants are all about spending cuts, so that part of the plan will sail through the House.
Two years ago the Republicants could have killed this plan and people would vaguely remember something about it come election time, and in the meantime if the President tried to keep reminding us of it he'd be rightfully accused of whining.
Did Obama play a 2 year rope-a-dope on a Congress intent on not passing his plans? By waiting two years he made it relevant in an election year. He made it so that the Republicants will have to pass it kicking and screaming or else answer for the wildly popular proposal at the voting booth. But if they pass it, we'll see an economic boost in 6-12 months and that is what the Republicants fear more than anything. This whole while they've played the part of obstructionists because they're afraid of allowing Democrats to govern like Democrats. In this modern era we've only had one successful presidency, and that was Bill Clinton (personal travails notwithstanding). If the voting public could see another successful economy created under Democratic stewardship it would seal the deal for a generation or longer.