NEON GODS

A growing "Occupy Wall Street" movement is just what Obama needs as he fights to get a jobs bill passed

I like what I'm hearing from the President these last few days, don't you? Here he is today, challenging the press:

Go ask the Republicans what their jobs plan is, if they’re opposed to the American Jobs Act. And have it scored, have it assessed by the same independent economists that assessed our jobs plan. These independent economists say we can grow the economy by as much as 2 percent and as many as 1.9 million workers wold be back on the job. I think it would be interesting to have them do a similar assessment. Same people. Have those economists evaluate what over the next two years the Republican jobs plan would do. I’d be interested in the answer.

I see some smirks in the audience, because you know that it’s not going to be real robust. The question is, Will Congress do something? If Congress does something, then I can’t run against a “do nothing” Congress. If Congress does nothing, then it’s not a matter of me running against them. I think the American people will run them out of town. Because they are frustrated. And they know we need to do something big and something bold.

Yes, we heard this same strong rhetoric back in 2008 when Obama was running for his first term and we ended up bitterly disappointed with the Obama we got once he was elected.  I would love to believe he has finally seen the light and is beginning to beat up on the Republicans, but I'm too cynical now to get my hopes up. 

However, this time around there is a new force that could grow to be as influential as the Tea Party has been in Republican circles, the "Occupy Wall Street" movement (or to give it a better name, "The 99%ers" a name I hope catches on).  The movement seems to be growing at an impressive pace, and if it remains a grass roots effort, and if the coming winter weather doesn't dampen it, this could be a force that could give Obama the kind of cover he needs to push for more jobs and programs to help the middle class.

 --Trakker

Where was this "no surrender!" President a year go?

My, my!  Look who is growing a spine. 

From Greg Sargent in today's WaPost:

Yesterday, Eric Cantor pronounced Obama’s jobs bill dead on arrival in the House of Representatives. This led many to write the American Jobs Act’s obituary. And understandably so: House Republicans don’t seem to have any interest in passing the major provisions in the bill, and even some Senate Democrats seem queasy about embracing aspects of it.

But it appears that Obama won’t let the jobs bill die without a fight. In a speech in Dallas today, he will directly call out Eric Cantor in some of his most aggressive language yet, demanding a Congressional vote on the bill so Americans can know exactly where every Member stands. From the prepared remarks:

Yesterday, the Republican Majority Leader in Congress, Eric Cantor, said that right now, he won’t even let the jobs bill have a vote in the House of Representatives. He won’t even give it a vote.

Well I’d like Mr. Cantor to come down here to Dallas and explain what in this jobs bill he doesn’t believe in. Does he not believe in rebuilding America’s roads and bridges? Does he not believe in tax breaks for small businesses, or efforts to help veterans?

Mr. Cantor should come down to Dallas, look Kim Russell in the eye, and tell her why she doesn’t deserve to get a paycheck again. Come tell her students why they don’t deserve to have their teacher back.

Come tell Dallas construction workers why they should be sitting home instead of fixing our bridges and our schools.

Come tell the small business owners and workers in this community why you’d rather defend tax breaks for millionaires than tax cuts for the middle-class.

And if you won’t do that, at least put this jobs bill up for a vote so that the entire country knows exactly where every Member of Congress stands.

As I’ve noted before, this is the script the professional left could have written. If liberals wanted to see Obama barnstorming the country in support of his jobs bill and calling out Republicans by name for blocking progress, well, that’s exactly what he’s doing. The message Obama is hoping to send today is: No surrender.

Um, yeah, I'm delighted, but where was Obama a year or so ago?  As Sargent points out:

The brutal truth is that there is little to no political incentive for Republicans to change course. As Republicans well know, Obama is in serious political trouble — even though Republicans are blocking provisions in the jobs bill that have strong majority support, it seems plausible that he’ll continue to bear the brunt of public anger over unemployment.

That's kind of a nice way of saying that this is a desperation measure by Obama. This jobs bill, a bill we so desperately need, now has no chance of passing (and even if it did, it's probably coming too late to improve the economy before the next election).

I hate the thought of the Republicans winning everything in 2012, but the Democrats have no one to blame but themselves.  Sure the Republicans have blocked everything and even taken the nation hostage to get what they want, but the Democrats refused to fight back as hard and as nasty as the Republicans.  Politics in America is now a fight for survival, winner take all, and the Democrats still don't seem to realize it.

--Trakker