JONATHAN COHN AUGUST 17, 2011
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Yes, President Obama is going to make a serious push to do something about jobs. It’s going to begin right after Labor Day.
White House officials are telling reporters that Obama plans to give a major speech on the economy, right after the holiday weekend. In that speech, the officials are saying, Obama will propose a series of initiatives to bolster the economy and promote higher employment. According to an account from Ben Feller of the Associated Press,
The president's plan is likely to contain tax cuts, jobs-boosting infrastructure ideas and steps that would specifically help the long-term unemployed.
Interestingly, the White House is saying the ideas will be “new.” I’m not sure that’s entirely necessary, in the sense that the best thing for the economy right now would probably be some ideas we’ve tried before, like public works spending and aid to the states. But perhaps the White House has some new twists on these. And the media does have a fetish for new ideas over old, so perhaps it’s just as well.
During the speech Obama will also put forward a proposal for deficit reduction. And according to the AP it will call for more savings than the $1.5 trillion the super-committee must find. But officials are saying that employment and policies to boost it will be the primary focus of the address – and that Obama intends to spend the fall urging Congress to pass it.
Is this good news? I certainly think so. For the last few days an undercurrent of fatalism has developed in the media, on the theory that Obama has very little power to fix the economy given GOP intransigence. No doubt it will be difficult. But yesterday I noticed, amid the usual Republican e-mails attacking Obama as a big spender, a press release touting the GOP job creation agenda.
Their agenda don’t add up to much – mostly tax cuts for the wealthy, reduced regulation, and spending cuts that, at best, wouldn’t do much increase short-term growth and, at worst, might actually reduce it. But the fact that Republicans felt compelled to show that, yes, they had plans is telling: I think they were reacting, at least in part, to the speeches Obama has been giving on the subject.
I wouldn’t discount the possibility that Obama’s push for jobs will force even this Republican Congress to do something – and that, even if it’s less than he or you or I would want, it could actually put a decent number of people back to work. That’s certainly worth trying. And if the Republicans really won't pass anything? Then, at the very least, Americans will have a better idea of where the two parties really stand -- and what they really want.
12 comments
Well, better late than never.
- Sophia
August 17, 2011 at 12:47pm
What Sophia said
- Tristan
August 17, 2011 at 12:52pm
The GOP will argue "too little, too late" and go on attacking Obama.
- Tgossard
August 17, 2011 at 12:57pm
And this is how Obama steals the Republican frame and turns it against them, taking control of the narrative. Lets hope he follows through with something strong that draws popular support.
- GSpinks
August 17, 2011 at 12:58pm
I don't think Obama can force the Republicans to do anything. He's going to have enough trouble just getting the 2012 budget passed, then the crisis over the Debt Limit again. He can't even "force" the Republicans to accept a compromise that favors their position 10 to 1, how is he going to "force" them to actually STIMULATE the economy? Just as the "more jobs" message fell silent during the May through July Debt-Ceiling crisis, I'm pretty sure "more jobs" will fall silent in the September through December "Spending Bills AND Debt-Crisis" crisis. If Obama keeps blaming all of Congress for the Republican's behavior, then the Republicans are going to feel no "force" to do the right thing at all.
- AllanL5
August 17, 2011 at 1:08pm
Obama is accused of not being partisan enough, yet a few days of drawing some contrasts is already eliciting "discomfort" from some Democrats... Obama dares Republicans to block his coming jobs package The president, visiting the Midwest, pledges to send Congress a plan in September and challenges Republicans to block it. Not all Democrats are comfortable with his hard-line stance. "And he continued to hammer away at Republicans in Congress, suggesting they stand in the way of economic growth, even as some Democrats expressed discomfort with what they saw as a potentially divisive stance... But one Senate Democrat, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the White House, was troubled by the president's gambit." http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-obama-bus-tour-20110817,0,5073945.story
- wkwami
August 17, 2011 at 1:10pm
Don't worry wkwami, two hours and this thread will be filled with imprecations about how Obama won't lead, is wedded to watery compromising, and that the Dems in congress are just ready and waiting for the battle colors to be unfurled, if only he'd discover his inner Hound of the Baskervilles. This is the kind of thing I was talking about earlier -- during the health care debate, for example, conservative Dems seemed completely unafraid of pressure from the grassroots for a more uncompromising stance. And if they are even uncomfortable with the minor shift in tone we heard from Obama over the last couple of days . . .
- ironyroad
August 17, 2011 at 1:55pm
The problem of being unwilling to contest with the Republicans is not unique to Obama, wkwami. It is the Democratic disease. I attribute it to the party having been taken over by wonks in 1972 who don't understand and have no taste for bare-knuckled politics. I have been lamenting this very fact here since well before Obama, but he has outdone even the congressional Democrats in this regard, what with being wedded to watery compromise and all.
- roidubouloi
August 17, 2011 at 4:27pm
"...how is he going to "force" them to actually STIMULATE the economy?"
He can't, but by making it a campaign issue he can set the tone for the start of the next session of Congress. If Democrats control both houses, and play their cards right, like eliminating the filibuster, instead of being spineless wimps, good things can happen.
"If Obama keeps blaming all of Congress for the Republican's behavior..."
Allrightythen, let's stop with the stupidity. K? If you don't know what "Some in Congress" means, you're a retard and don't deserve a vote. I'm tired of hearing this nonsense from people who claim to be intelligent. It's called double-speak. I'm a programmer-type. One of those overly intelligent types with no common sense? You might have heard of us...and yet even *I* know what the hell he's saying.
- GSpinks
August 18, 2011 at 1:16am
Doesn't a jobs agenda involve more spending rather than less? I guess perhaps he'll make a case for big cuts over the course of the next decade even while pressing for near-term infrastructure and related investment. That way he can talk about his being for cutting the deficit even if over the next couple of years he's pushing for targeted increases in spending. Or perhaps his speech will be more purely political, in terms of pushing for new initiatives that don't amount to much, but that put the Republicans on the defensive re jobs. I'm still not sure how he pivots from deficit being Job 1 to jobs being Job 1. If he can pull it off, better late than never, as Sophia suggested. But after hoping for months now that he's pull a rabbit out of his hat, I'm keeping my expectations on the low side.
- Thunderroad
August 18, 2011 at 2:12am
He needs to pick an important statistic other than unemployment, but that relates to unemployment and is a precursor to improvement and that he can improve; and then he needs to raise it and convince the public that it matters. For examples, it could be the amount spent on infrastructure or it could be exports or it could be the number of batteries produced that yields an increase in manufactured green cars. But he needs to do something, anything.
- Nusholtz
August 18, 2011 at 7:12am
He could/should cite the American Society of Civil Engineers report that urgently calls for $2 trillion in infrastructure improvements and get the Chamber of Commerce to back it, if it hasn't done so already. I also think exports can help considerably and are underappreciated. Krugman had a column some months ago noting Germany fought off the recession by boosting its foreign sales. There are indeed opportunities. One small example--I travel a lot with work and was in Zambia recently at a U.S.-Africa trade conference and met among others a gentleman from Minnsesota who was finalizing a deal with the Zambians to supply honey industry equipment. He said his company was the U.S.'s largest honey equipment firm, learned some months ago the Zambians wanted to build up their industry and so there he was to cement a deal. He also said in general exporting allowed him to maintain his level of employees and even add people. Others there were a bridge firm and building construction equipment company also engaged in serious discussion. Just some small examples.
- ballston
August 18, 2011 at 12:34pm