The AP is reporting today on the commencement of president Obama's so called "Jobs and Opportunity Tour". That's right, for at least the seventh time during his days in office, Americans are being told that Obama is pivoting to focus on jobs. Once again, jobs will be the first thing he thinks of when he gets up in the morning and the last thing he thinks of at night before going to sleep. Well, aren't we lucky!
The most amazing thing about Obama's latest "pivot" to jobs is that the president obviously believes that no one will recall his prior statements on the subject. How many times can Obama announce that he is focusing on jobs and expect the nation to pay attention or give him any credit for the supposed effort? This latest move seems truly delusional. No one in his right mind would expect any real effort from Obama after four and a half years of total inaction on the jobs front.
Even the AP, which normally carries the water for Obama, has been unable to do much to support this latest effort. Here is the AP's description of Obama's jobs program which was set forth in the State of the Union address:
[Obama] proposed a broad expansion of pre-kindergarten to accommodate every 4-year-old, calling it a smart investment that will help improve educational outcomes, along with raising the federal minimum wage to $9 to help working families. Both ideas faced almost immediate resistance from some lawmakers who said the proposals cost too much and could stunt the economy, and Obama has barely discussed the proposals since then.
So Obama's main cheerleaders can only come up with universal pre-kindergarten and a higher minimum wage as Obama's jobs program. Are they kidding? Do they really think anyone would call that a jobs program? How many jobs will universal pre-k create? Sure there will be a few thousand teachers hired, but the kids who go through the program won't hit the work force for at least another 12 years. That won't create any jobs now. And how about that minimum wage? All economists agree that raising the minimum wage will cost jobs not increase them. This is hardly a pro-job policy. But that is all the AP has: a move that will cut jobs and one that may result in a few extra teachers being hired.
The simple truth is that Obama is now out promoting a jobs and opportunity tour without having a jobs and opportunity plan. It used to be that Obama focused too much on speeches and too little on action. Now, Obama has gone all the way around the bend. He focuses exclusively on speeches and does nothing in the real world.
We should start taking bets on how many more times during his term Obama will pivot to jobs. The over/under is five and one-half.
The most amazing thing about Obama's latest "pivot" to jobs is that the president obviously believes that no one will recall his prior statements on the subject. How many times can Obama announce that he is focusing on jobs and expect the nation to pay attention or give him any credit for the supposed effort? This latest move seems truly delusional. No one in his right mind would expect any real effort from Obama after four and a half years of total inaction on the jobs front.
Even the AP, which normally carries the water for Obama, has been unable to do much to support this latest effort. Here is the AP's description of Obama's jobs program which was set forth in the State of the Union address:
[Obama] proposed a broad expansion of pre-kindergarten to accommodate every 4-year-old, calling it a smart investment that will help improve educational outcomes, along with raising the federal minimum wage to $9 to help working families. Both ideas faced almost immediate resistance from some lawmakers who said the proposals cost too much and could stunt the economy, and Obama has barely discussed the proposals since then.
So Obama's main cheerleaders can only come up with universal pre-kindergarten and a higher minimum wage as Obama's jobs program. Are they kidding? Do they really think anyone would call that a jobs program? How many jobs will universal pre-k create? Sure there will be a few thousand teachers hired, but the kids who go through the program won't hit the work force for at least another 12 years. That won't create any jobs now. And how about that minimum wage? All economists agree that raising the minimum wage will cost jobs not increase them. This is hardly a pro-job policy. But that is all the AP has: a move that will cut jobs and one that may result in a few extra teachers being hired.
The simple truth is that Obama is now out promoting a jobs and opportunity tour without having a jobs and opportunity plan. It used to be that Obama focused too much on speeches and too little on action. Now, Obama has gone all the way around the bend. He focuses exclusively on speeches and does nothing in the real world.
We should start taking bets on how many more times during his term Obama will pivot to jobs. The over/under is five and one-half.
No comments:
Post a Comment