Obama Speech Puts Ball in GOP's Court

Political perspective (0.00 / 0)

If the Republicans go along they can blame the failure on Obama.  Don't kid yourselves - this plan will fail.  It may create a token number of jobs at great cost, but it won't make any sizable dent in the unemployment level.

The best political response for Republicans would be to support a bill that will fail (well, at least everyone not up for re-election) so the others up for election can say "told you so".

This is exactly the type of gamesmanship I hate about politics.  But these thoughts are going through everyone's superficial insincere minds as I type.  How many times do government bailouts need to fail until people get that they don't fix long-term problems?  They fix temporary problems.  We have a long-term problem that needs a long-term fix.

If you are lucky, Republicans will obstruct.  Then you can say "if only those Republicans had gone along with our plan things would be better".

Unemployment is NOT going down before the election in any dramatic fashion if this is the solution.  Republicans are making the wrong political move if they obstruct this bill.  If I worked for them, I'd tell them to scrape together just enough votes to make it happen - and no more.  I'll bet that's exactly what happens because anyone who's done the math knows that this plan isn't going to make a meaningful difference in unemployment.

A strong Republican turnout means they think the plan will work, just enough means they are playing politics, and no Republican support mean whatever you think it means.

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by: relawson @ Sat Sep 10, 2011 at 03:33:55 AM UTC

How about thinking positively (0.00 / 0)

-- and also fighting for positive change! - as opposed to imagining every bad thing that could possibly happen (and possibly turning it into a self-fulfilling prophecy)?  IMHO, it's a much more pleasant, and also much more productive, way to go through life! :)

Follow me on Twitter.

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by: lowkell @ Sat Sep 10, 2011 at 10:43:54 AM UTC

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I'm a very positive thinker (0.00 / 0)

Normally, I'm very positive.  Outside of the economic choices Obama has made, and what are now his prolonged wars that need to be wrapped up, I'm supportive.  I think Obama is a much better President than Bush and many of the economic challenges he faces were created before he took office.

But let's not confuse positive thinking with wishful thinking.  For these types of economic policy decisions you need to work more with your calculator than with your heart.  

Step one is creating a plan that adds up.  On the positive side this plan does some smart things.  

Infrastructure needs improvement, so why not do it now while we have a surplus of labor?  Smart.  

Unemployment benefits, for anyone who has ever collected them, are a joke because the check is so small.  However, extending these benefits as low as they may be is the right thing to do.  Smart.

Tax cuts on the middle class, so long as the government can find wasteful spending to cut making up for lost revenues is smart.  This money won't make it into our economy until next April, but it will help the middle class that is currently struggling.  Smart.

So there are some positive things this bill does.  If the goal is to lower unemployment and get anywhere close to historic averages of 5%-6% this is not going to achieve that goal.  

I am goal oriented.  I thought the goal of the the American Jobs Act was to dramatically lower unemployment and get Americans working.  That won't happen, so even though this bill does some smart things believing that it will impact employment levels in a meaningful way is not smart.  It is Stupid.

We have a $14T economy.  This stimulus is slightly less than 4% of GDP.  That's a huge chunk of money, no doubt about it but it isn't going to have that big of an impact.  It's like adding 11 days to our calendar year.  Of course, we've got to pay these days back with interest across other years if we don't match it with spending cuts (which could cost jobs elsewhere).

The biggest impact on the economy will probably be the tax cut on the middle class.  But that won't get injected into the economy until next April when people get their refunds, and because much of what we buy is made overseas we won't benefit as much.

I know you guys want to be positive and support a great President.  I do too.  If you want him to get re-elected why not be trusted advisors?  I want people around me to let me know when I'm making a bad choice.  Doesn't the President deserve that?

The President is setting himself up for failure.  2012 is going to be a roll of the dice unless we have a really bad Republican nominee or the economy improves greatly and he can claim some role in that.  

You can almost taste the contempt that the Republican establishment has for the middle class.  If they win in 2012 it will be very bad news for working people and small American businesses everywhere.  

You should be screaming as loud as you can that the President solve core problems.  If that doesn't happen we really are rolling the dice with our future.

Even though I may sound negative at times, I may want him to win even more than you do or at least as much.  So when I see him doing things that puts the Republicans on course for taking over I get very angry because they won't represent main-street Americans.  

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by: relawson @ Sat Sep 10, 2011 at 15:18:23 PM UTC

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