Obama’s Job Test

August 23, 2011 - byGary Pearce
Instead of getting him back on the high road, President Obama’s bus tour left him deeper in the ditch. What to do now? Of course, give a Big Speech on Jobs!
 
Clearly, the Obama team is back to the 2008 playbook: When the chips are down, the chief will come through with a powerful, elegant speech that solves everything. (See his race speech.)
 
Obama has two choices. He can promise a big stimulus program that promises to quickly create lots of jobs. That would never pass Congress, so its only value is as a political sword to use against Republicans. And the American people might not like that sword.
 
The other choice is a thin gruel of incentives, investment banks, targeted tax cuts and what the leader of the free world called on his bus trip, “creative ways of managing manure.” (I’m not making this up.)
 
The Republicans have an easier path: blame Obama for everything bad and say the solution is simple: cut taxes, spending and regulations.
 
What would Bill Clinton do? He’d give a big speech that acknowledged the short-term problems and the lack of short-term solutions. He’d say that America needs to think big and long-term: education, research, infrastructure, trade, competitiveness, etc.
 
Bubba would make it sound sexy. And he’d throw in some political red meat, like:
 
“The one thing we can’t do again is trust the big banks, the billionaires and the hedge-fund boys – who got us into this mess by making big bets on big loans – to rescue us.”
 
Or maybe Obama could take this sensible advice from Geoffrey Canada, the President of Harlem Children’s Zone: 

“I would have a ‘grown-up’ talk with the American people, emphasizing that we are facing a crisis and solving it will require a spirit of shared sacrifice. Those of us who have benefited mightily from this country and made billions, as well as those who make the minimum wage, must all sacrifice.

“The social contract that we have taken for granted must be updated given our tough economic challenges, and all of us must now pay our great country back — giving more than we anticipated just a year ago. Those who can give a lot must do so; those of more modest means must also do their part.

“All our sacred cows must be reconsidered: Medicare, tax breaks for corporations, Social Security, tax cuts for the wealthy and middle class, military spending, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“But there is one group that we must protect at all costs — our children. We must sacrifice so that our children won’t inherit a country that is less than the one our parents left us. Our march toward equity and equality cannot be sacrificed. God bless America and God bless America’s children!”

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Obama’s Job Test

August 23, 2011/Gary Pearce
Instead of getting him back on the high road, President Obama’s bus tour left him deeper in the ditch. What to do now? Of course, give a Big Speech on Jobs!
 
Clearly, the Obama team is back to the 2008 playbook: When the chips are down, the chief will come through with a powerful, elegant speech that solves everything. (See his race speech.)
 
Obama has two choices. He can promise a big stimulus program that promises to quickly create lots of jobs. That would never pass Congress, so its only value is as a political sword to use against Republicans. And the American people might not like that sword.
 
The other choice is a thin gruel of incentives, investment banks, targeted tax cuts and what the leader of the free world called on his bus trip, “creative ways of managing manure.” (I’m not making this up.)
 
The Republicans have an easier path: blame Obama for everything bad and say the solution is simple: cut taxes, spending and regulations.
 
What would Bill Clinton do? He’d give a big speech that acknowledged the short-term problems and the lack of short-term solutions. He’d say that America needs to think big and long-term: education, research, infrastructure, trade, competitiveness, etc.
 
Bubba would make it sound sexy. And he’d throw in some political red meat, like:
 
“The one thing we can’t do again is trust the big banks, the billionaires and the hedge-fund boys – who got us into this mess by making big bets on big loans – to rescue us.”
 
Or maybe Obama could take this sensible advice from Geoffrey Canada, the President of Harlem Children’s Zone: 

“I would have a ‘grown-up’ talk with the American people, emphasizing that we are facing a crisis and solving it will require a spirit of shared sacrifice. Those of us who have benefited mightily from this country and made billions, as well as those who make the minimum wage, must all sacrifice.

“The social contract that we have taken for granted must be updated given our tough economic challenges, and all of us must now pay our great country back — giving more than we anticipated just a year ago. Those who can give a lot must do so; those of more modest means must also do their part.

“All our sacred cows must be reconsidered: Medicare, tax breaks for corporations, Social Security, tax cuts for the wealthy and middle class, military spending, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“But there is one group that we must protect at all costs — our children. We must sacrifice so that our children won’t inherit a country that is less than the one our parents left us. Our march toward equity and equality cannot be sacrificed. God bless America and God bless America’s children!”

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Gary Pearce

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