Of course the Repubs are going to Koch-block Obama's jobs bill. But Obama's not dumb. [View All]

[backscatter712]

Why do you think Obama went to the trouble to call a joint session of Congress to deliver this speech? It would have been less hassle to deliver it from the East Room or the Oval Office, or go on a road trip and deliver it at a town hall. But then the media would have yawned. A town hall would have been ignored entirely. An Oval Office or East Room speech would have been broadcasted, but then a lot of the audience would be lost for the live broadcast, and the bobbleheads would take a few sound bites out of context, the usual FAUX News crew would have picked over it, and the message wouldn't get through.

This is classic earned-media strategy. Obama chose to call a joint session of Congress, which is relatively rare, and even better (though a little embarassing), there was the pissing contest over the date, which in the end drew even more attention to the speech, and now Obama's got all the networks broadcasting the speech, and millions of Americans watching it.

And the message he was delivering, in classic Obama brilliance, is a simple one, that WILL resonate with the public. PASS A JOBS BILL, DAMMIT!

Because Obama knew that any bill he proposed would be DOA in Congress under normal circumstances - the GOP's committed to the strategy of Koch-blocking everything Obama tries, and sabotaging the country to bring him down. The key is to use the bully-pulpit, make a strong appeal to put America first instead of Republicans and corporations first, and make sure both Obama and the Congressional Republicans are on screen, in front of the nation, hearing Obama out.

Yeah, the GOP will still Koch-block, but they'll really hurt themselves in the process, and it very well may force them to agree to at least something of a jobs bill, and to backing off on the obstructionism and sabotage a bit. And Obama innoculated himself and the Democrats at least to some degree from taking the blame for the economy falling apart further - the GOP will more likely get the blame for the bad economy and continued unemployment - Obama made a strong proposal to try to fix things, so the GOP will have to figure out how to spin refusing to go along in the face of millions of constituents demanding action from them.