Obama's Goal: Creating Jobs, Putting GOP on Spot

 

HWith millions of Americans out of work and out of patience, President Barack Obama is going before a skeptical Congress to pitch an economic plan aimed at creating jobs urgently and forcing Republicans to own the problem with him.

The underlying political strategy: If Obama can't get his ideas passed heading into his re-election year, he at least hopes to show why he shouldn't take the fall.

In his speech Thursday, Obama is likely to offer at least a $300 billion package of ideas that would affect people in their daily lives — tax relief, unemployment insurance, spending to support construction jobs, aid to states to keep people in their jobs. Businesses would get their own tax breaks. And he will promise a long-term plan to pay for it all.

Yet all of it ultimately will depend on a Republican-controlled House that has a different economic approach and no political incentive to help a Democrat seeking a second term.

So, however cooperative his tone, Obama's goal is also to put Republicans on the spot to act — in their face, and in their chamber.

That is why Obama chose his most prominent venue, a joint session of Congress, a setting better known for his yearly State of the Union address. While the choice helps give him command of the stage, it also lifted expectations for a breakthrough moment, when the reality is that any sustained job growth will take many months, if not years.
Barack Obama
AP
President Barack Obama speaks as he honors... View Full Caption
President Barack Obama speaks as he honors Jimmie Johnson for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship in the East Room the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) Close

Obama is expected to speak for up to 45 minutes, beginning at 7 p.m. EDT.

As official Washington got back to work this week, the speech felt a bit squeezed on all sides. It comes one day after an attention-sucking debate of Republican presidential contenders and was to take place so close to the start of the popular National Football League season Thursday night that the White House reassured the public that Obama would be finished speaking before kickoff.

Before Obama even said a word, political and economic reality raised two questions: Will any of his ideas get approved, and will they actually work?

When asked about some of the ideas Obama is expected to discuss, majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents were all skeptical that the proposals would do a lot to create jobs, a Pew Research Center poll out Wednesday found. A series of new polls by major news organizations finds that the mood of the country is downright dismal about the direction of the country, with Obama's standing and approval on the economy at or near the lowest levels of his presidency.

Yet voters are holding all leaders accountable, supporting the White House's point that Congress is under pressure to act, too. An Associated Press-GfK poll found that more people assign chief blame for the economy to former President George W. Bush and congressional Republicans and Democrats than to Obama.

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