Obama Is Talking Jobs. Is Anybody Listening?

babylonsister

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Thu Jul-15-10 07:20 PM
Original message

Obama Is Talking Jobs. Is Anybody Listening?

Edited on Thu Jul-15-10 07:22 PM by babylonsister

Yes, there are a lot of topics for the networks to cover, but they're not doing this admin any favors, nor are they pointing out what numskulls the rethugs have been throughout Obama's time in office. Is the majority of the public aware of the obstructionist agenda and how much rethugs have really contributed to any discussion, about anything? I'm thinking not...

Obama Is Talking Jobs. Is Anybody Listening?
Jonathan Cohn

You've heard it a million times: The problem with President Obama is that he hasn't spent enough time talking about jobs. Maybe that's true and maybe that isn't. But the last 24 hours has me wondering whether anybody is even listening.

The administration on Wednesday released another report on the economic recovery, such that it is. By its accounting, the stimulus package Obama and the Democrats passed in 2009 created between 2.5 and 3.6 million jobs, raising gross domestic product between 2.7 and 3.2 percent. The estimate was roughly in line with Congressional Budget Office estimates.

You could draw a few conclusions from this report, depending on your political predisposition and ideas about the economy. Maybe it makes you think the stimulus was too big. Or maybe it makes you think the stimulus was too small. But it's hard to come away and not think the administration, and the president, are focusing on the economy.

But did anybody hear about the report? For the first time in a long while, I decided to watch the nightly news. I picked the Brian Williams broadcast on NBC. Economic news didn't come until the tenth minute, after long segments on the oil spill, Dick Cheney, a controversial drug for diabetes, and the latest on possible safety defects in Toyotas. When Williams did turn to economics, it was to mention weak figures on retail spending and the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve. I flipped to ABC, just in time to catch a Jonathan Karl segment about the signs the administration has placed on sites where stimulus money is being spent. Republicans are attacking those signs, some of which cost several thousand dollars, as wasteful spending.

NBC didn't do anything wrong; they had their priorities just right. But it's a reminder of the challenge facing the administration right now. There's an awful lot going on--the oil spill, congressional debates over energy and financial reform, and that's not to mention the two wars going on overseas. At the same time, the voters are angry--really angry--that unemployment is so high. The administration has a response--that they have created a bunch of jobs but not enough, that they'd like to do more but conservatives won't let them. But it's a complicated message and it's not getting through.

snip//

Not that the administration is giving up. On Thursday, the Energy Department is releasing a report about $12 billion in stimulus funds it has invested in clean energy transportation, including $2.6 billion to help produce batteries and build charging stations for electric cars. To highlight that progress, President Obama will attend the groundbreaking of a battery plant in Holland, Michigan--a city with 15 percent unemployment.

more...

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/76289/obama-talking-jobs-anybody-listening