Is it just me?

I just finished watching the speech by president Obama to a joint session of Congress. The basic message was a call by Obama for Congress to pass the American Jobs Act immediately. According to Obama, there can be no delay; too many people are hurting. Action is required at once.

It was a strong message. But there is a problem with the message. There is, as of yet, no American Jobs Act that has been released for review. The president is calling for immediate passage of a bill without even giving the Congress or the people a chance to see what is in it. Sure, he gave a speech in which he detailed a few of the provisions, but that is a far cry from actually giving us the details of the plan. Obama also said that the bill would be paid for in its entirety, but here too, there was no mention of how that was to be done. Obama seemed to say that the additional 450 billion dollars ought to be added to the cuts being found by the super committee under the debt ceiling legislation, but that was far from clear. He talked in general about his usual stuff like raising taxes on the fabled "millionaires and billionaires". But again, it is unclear how the government is to pay for all of this.

Personally, I do not think that Obama helps himself or his programs with these appeals to pass mystery legislation. He ought to release the proposed bill and publish it on the internet. Let the Congress see it and digest it. Let the press debate the provisions. Let the people study what he wants. But once again, Obama instead is choosing to hold back the details. We went through the stimulus debate without ever truly knowing what was in that bill. We went for close to a year in the healthcare debate before the actual content of the plan was known.

Obama is correct about one thing. It is time for action. Indeed, it was time for action six months ago when Obama did nothing on the subject. It was time for action when Obama wasted months on the debt ceiling legislation without ever bringing the matter to a close. It was time for action when Obama went on his long vacation to Martha's Vineyard. Those people out there in America who are hurting now, those poor unfortunates about whom Obama claims to care, they were out there six months ago, two months ago and last week. For that whole time, and for the two years before that, Obama did nothing that helped, only what hurt. Now, he supposedly has the answer to bring relief to these folks. To paraphrase those old Green Giant commercials, "Hey Mr. President, What took you so long?"

There is a lot more that can be said about the speech. Obama used his favorite device of setting up a straw man only to knock it down. Obama came out against refusing to pass the GI bill or Social Security. He also described the GOP position as cutting government to nothing and reducing taxes. He further described the GOP as wanting to leave the American people in a world where there is no sort of safety regulation at all. Not surprisingly, Obama then came out against that. Of course, the GOP is also against that.

I would have liked to analyze the economic effect of the Obama plan, but I just cannot. I do not know what the cut in the payroll taxes will be. I do not know if this cut will come out of the social security program or if it is to be made up from other revenues. I do not know who will get the $4000 tax credit for hiring of which Obama spoke. Is it just small business as he seemed to say? Is it all business? How do we know that his money for teachers will actually be used for hiring? Will some states just take the federal money and then reduce state taxes or pay down debt? That would have very little positive effect on the economy as a whole.

My problem is that Obama has just not told us what he wants to do. All we got was another speech. It may seem disrespectful to the president, but all I can say about the speech is "so what!" When you tell us the details, we can review them. Until then, it is just more political theater from the Politician in Chief. You need to convince America, not the teleprompter, that your plan will work, Mr. President. Tell us exactly what you propose and then tell us exactly how you are going to pay for it. America is hurting, Mr. President. You need to tell us now. Immediately. Right away! Just do it!!