Unemployment...Obama's Problem

Mr. Obama in February had the opportunity to fram his huge stimulus package as a "new" New Deal...instead, he allowed the Democratic majority in Congress to pass a gigantic pork barrel bill that "paid off" various Democratic constituencies. Thus in a period of rising unemployment, Mr. Obama allowed what could have been an opportunity to keep blue collar workers working in desperately needed infrastructure projects...instead allowed billions to be thrown away in in what are essentially bribes.

What was sold as a new New Deal, in the end, was not. The byproduct is unemployment unseen in a quarter century. And Obama clumsily appears on the side of the two bête noires of the day: big business and big government.

Today, his grip on Congress is far, far weaker than it was 10 months ago. The public, nor for that matter will moderate Democrats, will never allow another such bill to be passed because oof the tremendous growth of the deficit this year. Disappointment over the "stimulus package" will kill any further deficit spending for a new jobs bill and constraints on further deficit spending are now at the fore of the American public.

Mr. Obama pitched his jobs summit as a means to find "every demonstrably good idea." Had he actually remembered the basic idea that new jobs mean new voters, I believe that idea has slipped from the party's conscious...A program like the WPA, one of FDR's pet projects would have been possible, but no longer, not with voter's worries of excessive spending, but Mr. Obama never attempted this route. Roosevelt had a great deal more support on both sides of the aisle, however reluctant by conservatives of the eay. Nor did he face the threat of filibusters to the extent today. Additionally, FDR had far more focus on the economy and didn't allow himself to be side tracked by peripheral issues as has Mr. Obama. Also, the "stimulus package" with it specific pork projects was much easier for his opponents to oppose and supporters to justify than a jobs bill would have been.

Furthermore, in the stimulus, at the urging of special interest within the Democratic camp, had very few insfrastructure projects within it's spending than any other area of the economy. According the to Bureau of Labor and Statistic, nearly 2/3's of all jobs lost have been blue collar workers. Thus, Democrats have repeated the Keynesian falacy...FDR's "forgotten man" is still forgotten.

Administration officials say that direct jobs programs are inefficient to administer. Never mind the irony that liberal red tape, like environmental concerns, has undermined the core liberal agenda. But here we are, nearly nine months later, and Obama's way has hardly proven efficient. Only about a quarter of the stimulus has been spent.

Blame rests on the powerful. That's the Democrats. And liberalism is, in Lichtman's words, "a huge casualty."

Thus any possibility of a large scale jobs package will probably fail to pass both houses of Congress...and this will only further anger those workers who are unemployed. This extended period of unemployment may well reach into 2011. If it does...Mr. Obama will only rue the day he allowed Congress to hijack his "stimulus package."