Monday, August 29, 2011

Why Obama Can't Support A Real Jobs Program


President Obama’s much-anticipated jobs speech will undoubtedly cover more of the same things that already haven’t worked. He will propose an infrastructure bank, extension of unemployment and food stamps, promotion of green jobs, more government-corporate partnerships, and a one-year extension of the payroll tax reduction. He’ll advocate a second stimulus. He may be flanked by his jobs commission, headed by the CEO ofGeneral Electric, which earlier issued a lame interim jobs report.
His speech will not be about jobs. Instead, it will be a campaign speech in disguise.
Obama cannot propose a real jobs program. His constituents would rebel. A real jobs program attacks too many of the core beliefs of his party, such as minimum wages and higher taxes on the better off. Even if his presidency rested on it, Obama couldn’t emulate Bill Clinton’s 1996 Welfare Reform Act that triangulated him from his own party. There is no way for Obama to enunciate the equivalent of Clinton’s “We must end welfare as we know it.” His core beliefs rule out such a dramatic move to the center.
However, if Obama really wished to create jobs, he must:

3 comments:

  1. This is a great article, Mr. Gregory. I have both Facebooked and Tweeted it. I wish that Barack Obama and the rest of his administration would see the common sense in this article and implement them.

    I have my own talk radio show and I would be very interested in interviewing about this article. Would you be willing to do that? You may reach me at ces@candacesalima.com.

    Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.

    ReplyDelete