The jobs agenda Congress should have passed, but didn't.
About a month ago, shortly after the last jobs report was released, The Daily Show ran a game-show-style segment called "Polish That Turd." The point was, after awful jobs news, Republicans were on the attack, and it was up to the Obama White House and its allies to put a positive spin on disheartening data.
It was a funny bit, and it was premised on the widely-held conventional wisdom: the burden is on the president, and no one else. When the job numbers are good, it's proof of Obama's wisdom; when the job numbers are bad, it's proof of Obama's missteps.
Perhaps now would be a good time for a reality check. Last fall, Obama said the job market wasn't nearly strong enough, and he proposed an ambitious jobs plan called the American Jobs Act. Independent estimates showed that the policy, if implemented, would create as many as 1.9 million U.S. jobs in 2012 alone. Congressional Republicans, however, killed it.
Indeed, consider this pattern of events:
1. With the job market struggling, Obama unveils the American Jobs Act, a State of the Union agenda filled with economic measures, and an economic "to-do list."
2. Republican lawmakers ignore the proposals, and the job market deteriorates.
3. The GOP then blames Obama when job numbers disappoint.
The accepted truth this morning is that weak job numbers are absolute, concrete, incontrovertible proof that the president's jobs agenda isn't working. News flash: we aren't trying Obama's jobs agenda.
It's only natural for the public to want to blame someone when they're frustrated, and Obama's the one in the Oval Office. If the president had a "push here to create jobs" button on his desk, holding him responsible might even make sense. But it wasn't Obama who laid off 600,000 state and local public-sector workers; it wasn't Obama who decided to leave construction workers idle despite the need for infrastructure projects; it wasn't Obama who told the Fed to sit on its hands; and it wasn't Obama who asked Congress to ignore job growth for the last year and a half.
In the meantime, there's Mitt Romney, who recently touted a pro-layoff agenda, and who's absolutely convinced everything will be fine once he's able to cut taxes even more and frees Wall Street of the burdens of accountability and responsibility.
Something to keep in mind today as some in American politics celebrate the bad news.
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"News flash: we aren't trying Obama's jobs agenda."
WE aren't trying any "jobs agenda" - why cause the GOTP are blocking any progress for the people!! If people want to "blame someone" how about the GOTP in the House & Senate, or the state GOTP legislatures!
Vote the GOTP traitors and obstructionist out in November!
There is a car commercial running that references Jonathan Swift's Gulliver, tied down by the Lilliputians.
A curious parallel to our current "Most Powerful Man in the World", rendered impotent by a Republican congress of Lilliputian stature.
President Obama vs congress reminds me of that old song:Ya Cant Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd.
Well, educating the public on who to blame shouldn't be that difficult. Will the Democrats actually get the spine to engage the problem of the public attributing blame to the responsible party? I sure as hell hope so.
You're right, Steve. Republicans can have it either one of two ways:
A) Allow Obama to do what he thinks will create American jobs, even if the GOP doesn't agree with it. Blame him if he's wrong or give him credit if it works (of course they'd say he wasn't creating jobs fast enough which always kills the GOP's credibility because actual results don't matter, issues don't matter, even having a 'capable' candidate doesn't matter. GOP has to attack even when it's wrong)
B) Block Obama from doing all the things he can do to create American jobs BUT don't criticize Obama for your decision to block him. The GOP has no leg to stand on when they block Obama from trying to fix the economy in every way that Obama is trying to do this, and then try to assert that people should listen to them when they want to criticize the wrong guy for the wrong reasons.
What does the GOP do instead?
They block progress, blame Obama as if the GOP had no say in it. Then expect Americans or large numbers of them to be too stupid or ill-informed, even bet on stupid Americans, to know the difference. So far it looks like it's working in large pools of ignorance throughout America.
It's embarassing. I wish Republicans would bear the brunt of their bad decisions and be held accountable for their choices. Until Americans decide they'll hold Republicans accountable, Republicans will continue with their strategy of relying on our ignorance while they block ways to help us.
I had this conversation with my father recently... His response to my assertion that the Republicans are blocking his agenda was "But he had control of the House and Senate for 2 years, he could have done it then".
Facts don't matter to Republicans. It is his fault no matter what the current state of politics is...
BigJayNJ,
I agree with you. I make no excuses for people who CHOOSE to BE STUPID. That's what Republicans do. They make silly, illogical, enabling excuses--All The
Time. And once they are at the point of STUPID, insisting on STUPID, you can't
make sense with them. They are too brainwashed to understand what "facts" are. All they have to see is baseless accusations on Fox and that's enough to convince these guys. If these guys ever watched an entire hour of Rachel Maddow, I'd wonder how they'd react to real facts and cogent analysis. I'm not sure that would even convince them but I'd give them credit for trying.
I can point out the lies, the hypocrisy, the blisteringly incompetence, the facts
(with evidence, not accusations but evidence) and it doesn't matter to these
guys. Facts don't matter. Competence doesn't matter. Nothing matters to these
dip$hit$ except their blind ideology, voting for Republicans no matter what the
issues are, no matter what they say or lie about (proven lies).
And I hold every last one of them accountable. I don't make excuses for their
ignorance. They make a choice and those choices, in the aggregate, hurt
America.
I didn't say agree with me or you're hurting America. I said, I can present
fact-based arguments why they should not support failure, in voting for Romney
(or the current crop of Republicans). I'm not a Democrat but it's an easy choice with Obama. He's clearly smarter, motivated to do the most good for America and the majority of Americans, has better policies that actually work and are deficit-reducing, has proven himself in every facet of the job of President, and the list goes on.
Romney is horrible. He has less experience than Obama did before he was elected (what the GOP said about Obama). He lies constantly. He changes his positions
constantly (what the GOP said about Kerry). He's not smart or articulate
(personal opinion). He doesn't pay taxes in America. He can't take a stand and
stick with it. He's afraid to outline his policies for 'fixing' America because he'd actually expose his ideas/policies to scrutiny. Steve points out on a daily basis reasons why Romney is such a horrible candidate and Steve is not the only one with major doubts.
If I was a Republican, I'd vote for Obama and Democrats this election cycle just
so no one can say, "You voted for $hitbag Romney, you'd vote for anything
even if it hurts America. Issues don't matter to you. Competence doesn't matter
to you. You'll vote Republican no matter who's on the ticket, no matter what
the candidates' positions are, no matter what they lie about, or flip-flop constantly
about."
Some elections are pretty evenly matched; this is not one of those elections.
They're just Republican hacks. The Republicans will continue to do what they do
with impunity until you say, 'enough is enough' and vote for a new breed of
Republicans or vote against the current ones. Stop Enabling Failure, guys.
The free market will fix itself once Mitt Rmoney is preznit, Obama has stifled job creation with our inaction and our own complete lack of legitimate legislative solutions.
-Orange Julius (aka John "Screwdriver" Boner)
i think obama is head and shoulders above any candidate the republicans could field (o.k., i admit that's a very low bar), but i also fault him for not getting more done his first two years when he had a democratic congress to work with. i don't measure him against the last administration, but against the first 100 days of the new deal, and the first two years of the lbj administration. obama is brainer, but not nearly as canny as fdr or lbj. both of those guys provided the backbone the congressional democrats were lacking.
with Republicans' abuse of the filibuster, Obama did NOT have a congress to work with
Some clarity for a muddy subject:
http://phd9.blogspot.com/2012/05/difference-between-jobs-job-losses-and.html
I agree, Steve, but Obama (or someone with a bigger microphone than Maddowblog) is going to have to do a much better job of making that case.
As a threshold matter, Obama should let the party that lost all the jobs turn any increase into a negative. Sure it is less than we need, but it is still the 28th consecutive month of private sector gains, the trendline -- both over the entire Obama term and the past three months -- is in the right direction, and with this additional 80,000, Obama has created more jobs in 6 months than W did in 5 of hte 8 years he is President.
After making those positive points, then Obama can pivot to "but I recognize it is not enough, that too many families are still suffering. . .here is what I want to do about it, but I need your help in getting Mitt Romney and the Republican in Congress to care about the working families of this country." BUt he need not concede that an 80,000 increase is a failure. That is playing on the Republicans side of the field.
Had to grin about the UFO sightings comparison to voter ID fraud. But perhaps you should add that it is doubtful that aliens will be knocking on Romney’s door anytime soon.
I often wonder about some of these assertions. I totally agree with the way Rachel 'couches' this discussion about jobs as it applies to present politics. But I also think that we are experiencing a huge shift in how automation (and 'outsourcing') has impacted the american jobs market. Computational power has followed exponential growth now for decades and certainly automation is not far behind. This might explain why our economic output has grown since 2007 while the number of jobs have fallen. It would seem that being human doesn't bring the same advantage it once did. Will the national jobs debate as it applies to politics becoming a non-issue? Should we begin to understand the 'jobs issue' as a much larger social trend that transcends politics? Political questions should be focused in how our 'social order' embraces what certainly must be just around the corner. Automation.
they celebrate because they have committed ECONOMIC TREASON AGAINST THIS COUNTRY - beginning January 20, 2009.
ECONOMIC TREASON
I've had it. I'm tired of hearing about economic measures that would work if congress would act! Something needs to be done, about the economy, today.
Obama needs to get firm with congress. Tell them, in no uncertain terms, to work together, and get something passed. I'm disappointed in Obama. No more money from me until I see something happen. We can't wait until after the election to address the economy.
I don't want to hear about any more economic plans that would work if....
Reach across party lines...or go home. What would happen in November if no one showed up to vote? I am so disillusioned that I'm sending no more money, and seriously considering, for the first time, not showing up to vote!
Because we all know that reaching across party lines worked with the stimulus and the ACA. All you have to do is total-up those repugnicon votes on those bills and the President will see what he needs to do! And if not that then a stern word will certainly work right?
Hey ssinp, what would you have Obama do to "get firm with congress"? Take away their birthdays? Pee in their tip jar?
As to being disappointed in Obama: Had McCain won the presidency do you think we'd be out of Iraq? We'd be bombing a whole crop of countries full of little brown people. Do you think they'd be an ACA or anything resembling health care reform? What about Social Security Insurance versus personal private investments? Do you think that Federal Pell Grants would have been taken out of the hands of the commercial bankers? How about Don't Ask, Don't Tell? How about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act?
Time to grow up. No one said it would be easy or quick to bring this country back on track to what it once was. If you don't vote... you're allowing some greedy bugger to decide your fate. So, what's it going to be?
We're still experiencing the Bush economy. The Republicans don't want a jobs bill and they've killed every one. Romney's plan is the Ryan super-austerity plan, which will not grow jobs OR reduce the deficit.
Romney wants America to take a leap of faith, that an austerity plan that raises taxes on the middle class, and raises the deficit, and takes away Medicare will have any effect on jobs. Sigh. Maybe if Obama just hounds Romney on raising taxes on the middle class. Romney gets away with single-item jargon, why can't Obama.
The Romney plan will raise taxes on the middle class. There's a bumper sticker.
The Republicans will continue to block any programs that will help unemployment because there is no political price to pay for their obstruction. Obama has started talking about this obstruction, but that should be the main message when it comes to jobs, particularly when it comes to specific legislation. It is still a great idea for Dems to targeting specific areas with roads and bridges that need repairing. But that means all Dems need to get on board for any proposed jobs legislation. Every Dem candidate should be provided the necessary information about their specific district and talking about that info out in the local media as well as during town halls and campaign stops. But we have not heard much of anything in regard to bringing this to local districts. The local airwaves, including the Fox stations, should be blanketed with this message. If the Dems are serious about proposed legislation, then they need to shape the public opinion.
When Golda Meir was Prime Minister of Israel she was asked to place a curfew on women to end a series of rapes. However, she refused, saying, "But it is the men who are attacking the women. If there is to be a curfew, let the men stay at home." It seems to me that Republicans offer solutions like the one that Golda rejected, designed to punish the victims and reward the criminals.
I've got to believe they (dems) are saving the good stuff until later. People get bored and forget so easily. We need to get people listening but it will be more effective in September and October so why waste the money buying ads now. Let Romney overkill with ads now. When you hear the same thing over and over for months on end you tend to tune it out. Right around the time people start thinking of Romney's ads as white noise, the dems will start pounding them good with all this obstructionist crap they've been pulling. We don't have as much money. Got to spend it wisely. Be patient and believe.
Like the tree that falls in the forest, "nobody" is listening, and they won't until after Labor Day.
Jane is right. Keep your powder dry.
Glad someone is calling out Jon Stewart. Love every episode of his show, but this is one of the too frequent cases he gives into the same pressures the networks do and tries to tear down his own in order to prove he isn't biased. The same thing with the Fast&Furious nonsense. It actually seems to agree with Republicans that it is on the order of Watergate.