If non sequiturs could create jobs, an economic boom would soon
be upon us. Trying to sell Congress on his jobs agenda before the
NFL season’s opening kickoff, President Obama uncorked a combative
stemwinder filled with odd inferences and false choices.
“Sell” might be an inapt word. The president repeatedly demanded
that Congress heed his will on the grandly named American Jobs Act:
“You should pass it right away.” In this Capitol Hill campaign
rally, Obama rather transparently dared Republicans to reject his
proposal so he can run against them as a “Do Nothing Congress” next
year.
By one estimate, the stimulus package’s Mini Me consists of $260
billion in tax cuts, $140 billion in new infrastructure spending,
and $60 billion in additional unemployment insurance. The president
wants us to hire teachers like South Korea, build high-speed rail
like Communist China, and party like it’s 1999.”Should we keep tax
breaks for millionaires and billionaires?” Obama asked. “Or should
we put teachers back to work so our kids can graduate ready for
college and good jobs?”
So on the one hand, the plan cuts taxes. There is payroll tax
relief and tax credits for creating new jobs. But this is to be
paid for by raising taxes on oil companies and Americans greedy
enough to earn more than $250,000 a year, presumably on the grounds
that neither of these tax hike targets ever create jobs.
Fear not, this bill is paid for. You know, with these tax
increases. And with extra spending cuts to be determined by
Congress and the super committeee. And with a This Time We Mean It
deficit reduction plan, to be introduced later.
“The agreement we passed in July will cut government spending by
about $1 trillion over the next ten years,” Obama said. “It also
charges this Congress to come up with an additional $1.5 trillion
in savings by Christmas. Tonight, I’m asking you to increase that
amount so that it covers the full cost of the American Jobs
Act.”
A bit later we heard: “[A] week from Monday, I’ll be releasing a
more ambitious deficit plan — a plan that will not only cover the
cost of this jobs bill, but stabilize our debt in the long
run.”
This is not to say that every jot and tittle of the proposal
would be bad. The House Republican leadership was quick to put out
statements saying they could pass parts of it. But as a whole, it
lacks coherence. For Keynesians, why balance the new stimulus with
additional deficit reduction? For supply-siders, why hand out
internal revenue code-complicating tax breaks while jacking up some
taxpayers’ marginal rates?
We arrive at this destination because Recovery Summer did not
materialize and shovel-ready was, as the president later admitted,
not so shovel-ready. The unemployment rate that was never supposed
to exceed 8.5 percent broke 10 percent and remains at 9.1 percent.
The 3.5 million jobs created or saved in theory was met by a loss
of jobs in practice. And what happens when the stimulus funds run
out?
The politics are as tenuous as the economics. Overpromising yet
under-delivering has hurt Obama politically. So this time he seems
to want to overpromise and then let the Republicans
under-deliver.
But Obama isn’t a candidate running to replace George W. Bush
anymore. He is the incumbent president of the United States. If
Washington is broken, the American people have a right to ask why
he hasn’t fixed it. If the two parties can’t work together, Obama
is not merely floating above the fracas like a neutral observer. He
is the titular head of one of those two parties. If Congress has
waited too long to address the jobs crisis, then so has the fellow
living in the fancy white house on the other side of Pennsylvania
Avenue.
Liberals are happy to see the president get angry. They are
pleased he is talking about jobs rather than “austerity.” But man
cannot win by liberals alone. Obama has always given a good speech
about the brokenness of our politics. Now that he is the country’s
most famous politician, is the country still listening?
After all, the president didn’t seem eager to try his odds in a
time slot against Aaron Rodgers.
