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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

We Don’t Need a Speech. We Need Jobs.

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  September 1st, 2011 at 04:45 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

President Obama and Speaker Boehner have agreed that the President will address a joint session of the Congress next Thursday. The President wanted Wednesday during the GOP debate, but John Boehner said no. Folks at the White House said the Speaker had been consulted before they put it in writing and did not object. Speaker Boehner’s staff say he was not consulted prior to receiving the President’s request. It doesn’t really matter. People are beyond tired of speeches from Washington.

As the President addresses the nation, Arizona will face off against Oklahoma for a college football game and the NFL regular season will start.

The President had two years with his party controlling the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. They managed to pass a stimulus bill that, by 2010, was such a dismal disaster the President would not even use the word “stimulus.” Remember that press conference?

The Democrats then pivoted to health care claiming it was about entitlement reform and related to jobs.

Every time the President has pivoted to jobs a funny thing has happened — we’ve wound up losing more jobs.

How many mulligans will we give our golfer-in-chief?

In early 1992, facing a struggling economy and an increasingly tough re-election bid, President George H. W. Bush decided to give a talk from the White House about the economy and his jobs plan. The media largely refused to carry it because it was, in their eyes, a campaign event.

In August of 2011, President Obama toured the nation in a campaign event paid for 100% by American taxpayers out of the federal treasury. Now in September of 2011, the President intends to take his campaign road show to the floor of the United States House of Representatives.

He first tried to do it on a Wednesday night, which would have disrupted the GOP debate. Back in 2009, when Dick Cheney decided to speak at AEI, President Obama decided to have a press conference to try to step on Cheney. This is par for the course.

Well, for those of you who believe in karma, on Thursday night President Obama is going to get stepped on by the millions of Americans who don’t want another speech, just a job. And until they get one, they’ll at least distract themselves with football instead of Captain Bull Malarkey and 24th and a half jobs plan.

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COMMENTS

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  • bgintn

    1) Tax Relief: President Obama will propose tax relief incentives for companies that create jobs and hire new workers.

    2) Infrastructure Investment: The president wants the government to invest in clean energy and new construction projects to build schools and transportation.

    3) Assistance for Long Term Unemployed: Obama wants to help those who have been out of work for six months or more, which adds up to about 6 million Americans. Specifically the president is looking at a program such as Georgia Works ? which gives unemployed Americans eight weeks of training at a local company while allowing them to still collect their unemployment benefits. And it?s no cost to the participating company.

    A former White House economic adviser said today that economic ?stimulus? will be part of the package ? but won?t be labeled as such.

    ?You won?t hear the word ?stimulus? ? the ?s word? ? because that just is politically unappealing right now,? Jared Bernstein, who left his post as Vice President Joe Biden?s top economist in June, told us on ABC?s ?Top Line? today. ?But you will hear targeted measures, which I think is actually a more apt description of what I think the president will talk about.? A ?middle-ground? approach of targeted tax relief and additional spending.

    ?He?ll want extend the payroll tax holiday. He?ll want to extend unemployment insurance. He?ll have some ideas for infrastructure. Maybe something to help repair the schools ? that?s an idea that a number of us have been pushing ? a program called FAST: Fix America?s Schools Today, which could get hundreds of thousands of construction workers back to work repairing the backlog of maintenance in the nation?s stock of public schools.?

    Obama’s Plan……. More Spending with strings attached.

    My questions……..Where do you get the money? Who will accept it with the strings?

  • smitch61

    anymore. We are not participating in the rhetoric. The American people are trying to make it on their own, doing whatever they need to do to work and provide for their families. He is beyond a joke at this point. I have had to reinvent myself 3 times in the last four years, and thus have changed career paths… There are millions like me.

    I concur, Karma.

  • azvick

    I’m catching the Saints-Packers season opener instead.

  • republicanconscience

    What ever the Commie-in-Chief has to say is irrelevant; he is a liar and the less he says the less he lies. No one GAS what a liar has to say.

    If he has a Job Plan, the only things certain are it will cost too much and it will fail.

  • jimmyneutron

    They must really like us a lot because they sure are willing to give us money!

  • lakeshore

    Has anyone ever researched any connection showing if the companies that wind up with big construction contracts “coincidentally” have ties to Democrats, or donated to them? This could apply to the so called “Green” companies as well.

  • jimmyneutron

    Why he is a regular job creating engine. Look at the number of > $100k/year jobs he has created – in government! LOL

    I am sure that is you look close enough you can find some sort of correlation: 1 highly paid government job = loss of 3.56 good paying private sector jobs?

    I have heard it all before and don’t care to hear his cheekiness again – I will most likely work around the yard and try to catch snippets of the Packers game here and there.

  • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

    there will be something else to watch than 24/7 news.

  • izoneguy

    Obama at a loss

    Since taking office in admittedly tough economic conditions, the president has taken America 180 degrees in the wrong direction. His failed $825-billion stimulus, Obamacare, Dodd-Frank and the explosion of his administration?s other job-killing regulations have combined to put a stranglehold on our economy. Until these policies are reversed, the lack of confidence that dampens consumption, business investment and job creation will be the order of the day. Unfortunately, Mr. Obama is blinded by ideology and refuses to acknowledge the harm his agenda has wreaked on America and our economic future.

    Fortunately, some in Congress understand the harm his agenda is causing and are working hard to reverse course.

    As a thought experiment, imagine how much uncertainty would be removed and the level of confidence that would return if the entire Obama agenda were repealed tomorrow. A pretty pleasant thought, isn?t it?

  • charliesalmanack

    …is a very nice man. And he’s respectful of the office of the Presidency and of his fellow members in Congress. In normal times he’d be a fine Speaker of the House.

    But these are not normal times.

    He should have counter-proposed a back-and-forth DISCUSSION between the President and the Congressional GOP, in either public or private, at a time/place of the President’s choosing (other than next Wednesday night, of course).

    Speaker Boehner is weak. Period. He is simply incapable of pushing back against Obama’s non-stop assault on the laws and institutions that lead to national prosperity.

  • Locked and Loaded

    The Sooners do not play Arizona; it is the Oklahoma State Cowboys, and OU is off that week.

    So, actually, there is a much greater chance that somebody will tune in to Obama. :)

  • popster

    and so far all we have recieved from this self proclaimed leader is CHEEP talk. This almost makes you wonder if this guy and his minions landed in Roswell in that spaceship.

  • 6eorge Jetson

    Why should companies that hire now be favored over those that hired in the past?

    Gimmicks like this and cash-for-clunkers have no lasting effect.

  • repubnut

    I wonder if we will receive a TRUE number of ,,How many people watch the Saints-Packer game VS Obama’s B.S. to the American People

  • 6eorge Jetson

    Barack is trying to garner the title Speaker of the (White) House

  • smagar

    As in, Mike Stoops, Arizona’s football head coach.

  • frankmac

    With how many times Pelosi denied GWB a chance to address a joint session, this is just desserts for BO! Now everybody in the country will be watching football when the Unemployer-In-Chief tries to talk about jobs. I love it!!

  • http://www.ajharaldson.com lakeworthcane

    Yeah, we need jobs, but NOT FROM THE FEDERAL PUBLIC SECTOR. Politicians don’t create jobs; the economy creates jobs. If the politicians would just leave the economy alone, it’d create all the jobs we need.

    But as the Gibson Guitar situation (and that’s just one example)shows, Obama doesn’t want to “create jobs.” He wants to shift earning power from those who don’t support him to those who do. If he can’t shift earning power to those who support him, he will at least take it away from those who don’t.

    This is common leftist orthodoxy: feed the “believers” by starving the “non-believers.” It doesn’t work. It never has. The supply of “non-believers” always runs out, and more and more “believers,” who had been loyal to the leftist cause, are redefined as “non-believers” and used to feed the shortening list of “believers.” In other words, leftism consumes itself.

  • mkj350

    Even if he’d gone ahead and had it on the GOP debate night, more people would have watched the debate than his lame speech. Maybe that’s what he’s trying to do – hide.

  • johnt

    And they need even more money, & repair ? “Backlog of maintenance”, Bernstein, you mean we’ve been screwed? You want an argument for the built in corruption of government, it’s right there.
    But brilliance rises from the ashes, the big leftist brains will not use the word “stimulus”.
    On the basis of this do the leftist deranged call Normal People stupid.

  • audax

    …LOL

  • http://www.ArchitecturalShots.com mdyou

    Can’t wait to see the overnight TV ratings next Friday morning…

  • JimmyGee

    It’s cost us 4 trillion dollars in just over 2 years!

  • JimmyGee

    The kick off for the Packers (I am a proud Cheesehead)/Saints game is 7 pm Central Time. When is O’Bummer going to get his drivel JCOH speech in? Will he preempt the game? It seems to me he will have to. That will go over WELL! Then he gives the same-old-same-old speech about another jobs plan just on a different plate.
    I just heard that he will only preempt just the pregame! That makes it all better.

  • JimmyGee

    Is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

  • uselogic

    And definitely a better alternative than the Idiot in Chief…. or rather, his teleprompters.

  • Marcus_Traianus

    What Obama hasn’t figured out is very few people believe him anymore.

    Not the long-term unemployed, newly unemployed, college students that can’t find jobs, people working two jobs to make ends meet, small business owners, kids that can’t afford college anymore, retirees that lost their life-savings and anyone else interested in a bright future for their children.

    We’ve has enough Stimulus, Green-Job, GM Bailout, Obamacare, Union enriching, wasteful spending, no-budget, crushing debt, energy crippling, corporate hating, S&P Downgrading, class warfare, heavy hand of government to last us a lifetime. No thanks.

  • stephekel

    his blathering pre-empts all the other shows. Wouldn’t be surprised if his face is plastered on all the channels, even the Food Network.

  • Spartan4Life

    Any job that is “created” out of thin air will be by definition a temporary job because it is only jobs that are identified by real need with real revenues to pay for said job that have staying power.

    The ultimate myth is that the government can “create” jobs. Governments don’t have any money. They only get revenue to pay for “created” jobs through taxing, borrowing, or printing, all of which are bad. Extracting money from the economy through taxes to pay for “created” jobs doesn’t really help anything. One proposal I have been making is that we only count government jobs as 1/2 whether we add them or lose them. The more government jobs we lose the better off the economy will be in the long run.

  • Spartan4Life

    Any job that is “created” out of thin air will be by definition a temporary job because it is only jobs that are identified by real need with real revenues to pay for said job that have staying power.

    The ultimate myth is that the government can “create” jobs. Governments don’t have any money. They only get revenue to pay for “created” jobs through taxing, borrowing, or printing, all of which are bad. Extracting money from the economy through taxes to pay for “created” jobs doesn’t really help anything. One proposal I have been making is that we only count government jobs as 1/2 whether we add them or lose them. The more government jobs we lose the better off the economy will be in the long run.

  • msctex

    No one not directly connected to the success (well, propitiation?) of the Obama Administration has reason to care what this man has to say. No one is even willing to feign interest anymore, and there is no reason on Earth why they should. In fact, he will probably manage to cause a market downturn just by opening his mouth.

    Never has a President been so marginalized, and certainly never so quickly has one fallen so far. The man is a non-entity, and his own Party cannot admit the weight on their own neck.

  • Veronica

    And I won’t sacrifice my family or children so that the state can make up for the time I don’t spend with them.

    People in my position would rather keep collecting unemployment and stay home.

    The question is: what kind of jobs is President Obama adding to the economy?

    Disclaimer: I don’t collect unemployment.

  • azred

    Every ‘plan’ that includes ‘infrastructure’ is the same old sorry move to create jobs for unions only. Spend a $1 trillion on ‘infrastructure’ and what that will translate to is massive amounts of money flowing to union treasuries and votes in exchange.

    Until this administration halts the rampant regulation and the assault on the energy and mfg sectors, combined with selective prosecution and or persecution based on where the defendant falls on the enemy/friends list (see Boeing, Gibson, Texas, Arizona, etc), nothing of any substance short of the crony giveaways will happen.

    It is clear that Obama suffers from one or more of these points fatally:
    - He is too blind/economically uneducated to see the damage his policies and the actions of his administration are doing.
    - He can only see solutions in the light of how they benefit his base.
    - He doesn’t give a rat’s patootee about the damage, that’s just how he rolls.
    - He is so interested in his own self-preservation, the only driving factor in his decisions and policy is how he benefits him, either directly or indirectly (votes,money, etc).
    - He has no concept of the fiscal responsibility. And doesn’t care to unless it becomes politically beneficial to do so. In general, his base doesn’t care, nor does he.

  • azred

    So the answer to your question is heavily yes.

  • lineholder

    people in my area, too. Most of them now have the attitude of “forget about depending on the government…if you want to survive, you have to find a way to do that on your own”.

    The folks in DC could be groveling on all fours like wild beasts and it wouldn’t make much difference right now.

  • JimmyGee

    This just in: WTMJ (NBC) which covers Southeastern Wisconsin, will NOT carry O’Bummer’s speech. They will carry the NFL opener.

  • nancylee

    He needs to learn to do his. It’s hard to lead the way when your head is stuck in a warm, dark smelly place.

  • rightwingmom52

    and that’s saying a lot because it’s extremely repulsive, but I doubt it will be pre-empted.

    Reruns on September 8 include:

    8 pm EDT – Carolyn, Shane, and Dawn: Revisited (about pit bulls)
    9 pm EDT – Cats in My Freezer (about dead cats in the freezer)
    10 pm EDT – My Truck’s Filled with Dogs (self-explanatory)

  • citizenjerry

    Boehner should have turned down the request completely. Joint sessions of Congress should be reserved for urgent business, like in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor or 9/11. Instead, what they’re going to get is yet another Obama campaign speech.
    The job situation will not improve dramatically, or the economy improve, until the voters clean house on these charlatans.
    Until then, pray we can hold on — and that the fools who elected the charlatans will stay home.

  • runner12

    the NFL game and watching my OSU Cowboys (hopefully) drum Arizona.

    I wonder how many TD’s Blackmon will have. I am hoping for at least 5 or 6.

  • http://www4.webng.com/rickbull/lostlucky/ rickbull

    No other Speaker in history has pushed back against a President on the POTUS’ request for a joint session speech. That combined with his “Put something on the table!” speech during the budget/debt ceiling “crisis” are showing that John may actually be growing into his role. We may make a SOTH out of him yet.

  • http://www4.webng.com/rickbull/lostlucky/ rickbull

    Which means it should be over before the first kickoff. My own personal feeling is that it will be over before it ever begins.

  • http://www4.webng.com/rickbull/lostlucky/ rickbull

    the people who believed we would be out of Afghanistan and Iraq within a year of 01/20/09, not the people who believed that Obama would turn the economy around with keynesian policies, not the people who believe we need cap and tax, — I could go on forever. Even the liberals don’t trust The One anymore, because they are the ones he has lied to the most.

  • http://www4.webng.com/rickbull/lostlucky/ rickbull

    I like it!

  • MF

    Let me answer that – because no other POTUS has had the unmitigated gall to attempt to preempt the Republican debate. That was an extremely calculated attempt at making the Republicans look bad, because they knew Boehner would say no, and they felt they could control the narrative from the Lame Stream Media.

    I give Boehner only a tiny bit of credit here. He had no choice but to reject POTUS attempt to crash their party, but he did what he had to do.

  • MF

    Let me answer that – because no other POTUS has had the unmitigated gall to attempt to preempt the Republican debate. That was an extremely calculated attempt at making the Republicans look bad, because they knew Boehner would say no, and they felt they could control the narrative from the Lame Stream Media.

    I give Boehner only a tiny bit of credit here. He had no choice but to reject POTUS attempt to crash their party, but he did what he had to do.

  • acat

    Normally, the scheduling is worked out behind the scenes, then announced.

    In this case, the White House told the press before they told Boehner’s office.

    I am thinking they wanted the fight, they knew what Boehner had to do, they want to use anger at the GOP and Congress to fire up their base.

    Thing is, if that’s the best shot they’ve got at winning ….

    Mew

  • Common_Cents

    Gee, I wonder why?

    -Hiring spree of “elites” in big govt?
    -Lobby industry alive and well despite obummers promises to tackle it.
    -More and more businesses/industries are nearly forced to have a presence in DC lobbying efforts as govt is involved directly instead of being a referee.

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    Recovery can only begin after the bottom is reached. more later but i think Texas (due to state lending standards that softened the bubble bust) and a few other states have had a price recovery after a bottom.

  • lastgopinillinois

    when you subscribe to cable TV ?
    I’m glad I cut the cable long ago. apparently, Im not missing much.

  • http://www4.webng.com/rickbull/lostlucky/ rickbull

    this is the first time that a SOTH has publicly pushed back; you are correct. There may have been numerous previous pushbacks, but this was the first to hit the press. In any case, I am glad that Boehner didn’t wimp out.

  • lastgopinillinois

    office park to house all the new rule-writers, regulators and IRS agents required by 0bamacare and Dodd/Frank financial Deform alone. Its government, so RE agents have got to be getting a premium for the space.

  • acat

    I agree we have to hit bottom first, but .. a big part of that is “known unknown” right now. More clearly, Cali (and Illinois) can’t bottom out until the State economy also bottoms out .. and they’re still betting on an Obama bailout.

    Mew

  • lastgopinillinois

    by another name is: wealth re-distribution, but I would say it has been very effective as a way of drawing voters to the left. If the public continued to remain “asleep” to the facts, their strategy could ultimately become self-sustaining.
    EVERY conservative in public office should be revealing the truth about their strategy in every microphone they can muster.

  • lastgopinillinois

    in local taxes for schools in our district and i’ll be damned if I would want a FEDERAL vehicle using MORE of my tax dollars to upgrade schools 1000 miles away from my district.
    This infra-structure bank is a wealth re-distribution scheme. Plain and simple. I want my local officials to be responsible with my tax dollars and the Feds can butt-out. If this bank gets started up, I fear local politicians will breathe an economic sigh of relief and get lax about spending hoping for a Federal infrastructure BAILOUT. Then the local communities get hooked and we will never be able to get rid of the money eating monster.

  • lastgopinillinois

    these as listed along with my comment as to the effectiveness of each.

    Creating an “infrastructure bank.” Oh great…another lib govt slush fund to benefit unions and further the goal of wealth redistribution and socialism. I smell more corruption brewing in this sceme.

    Renewing payroll-tax cuts Short term schemes will not boost any confidence in the free-market. Economic growth requires a long term tax structure that business can plan hiring and expansion around. Sounds good to uninformed voters though…which is actually the main goal of offering this.

    $5000 new-hire tax credit New regulatory costs incurred by 0bamacare, Dodd/Frank financial deform and EPA “cap-and-tax” makes $5000 look like a drop in a bucket. Worthless. Sounds good to uninformed voters though…which is actually the main goal of offering this.

    Extending jobless benefits If the right policies were in place to boost the economy, unemployment would decline and you wouldnt need this. But we just have to offer it to prove that big brother will provide for the jobless. May score some points with uninformed voters.

    tax credit for hiring returning veterans Again….short term….worthless. Again….right economic policies, shouldnt need this.

    Ratifying pending trade deals By all means. Republicans have been trying to get this done since 111th congress. But 0bama has strategically held this back to use it as a boost for his 2012 campaign. 0bama, you stinker!

    Reforming the patent process Beware this is a job killerit favors big banks and wallstreet over private industry and unconstitutional on 2 fronts. Urge your senators to call for allowing amendments so they can kill section 18 of the bill, or VOTE NO.

    Providing aid for teachers Mr 0bama, please go back to school yourself beginning in 2012. Let State and local governments take care of their education system so we can get some creative, innovative ideas to improve education. But again, it’s campaign season, gotta show you care!

    job training for long-term unemployed We dont already have dozens of job training programs? More government redundancy. Matter of fact why dont you consolidate some of those programs, streamline them and save the taxpayers some money?

    Funding school renovations So…you wanna use MORE of my tax dollars on top of the high local taxes I pay for schools in my district to renovate schools 1000 miles away from me?

  • jerseydevil

    This is just going to be another campaign speech at the expense of the American people.

  • http://uslibertyjournal.blogspot.com/ Daezy

    Personally, I can’t wait!