Why Obama's Jobs Plan Should Be 'Unnrealistic And Unreasonable' (Eugene Robinson)

[kpete]

On jobs, time to be bold
By Eugene Robinson, Published: August 29

President Obama’s promised jobs plan needs to be unrealistic and unreasonable, at the very least. If he can crank it all the way up to unimaginable, that would be even better.

This is a moment for the president to suppress his reflex for preemptive compromise. The unemployment crisis is so deep and self-perpetuating that only a big, surprising, over-the-top jobs initiative could have real impact. Boldness will serve the nation well — and, coincidentally, boost Obama’s reelection prospects.

The political calculus is pretty simple. If voters base their decision on the state of the economy on Election Day, Obama is in trouble. Even the most optimistic scenarios predict that unemployment will still be above 8 percent next fall. These rosy projections envision month after month of painfully slow growth, the kind that is barely discernible. Pessimists see another dip into recession.

Note that I said this would mean Obama is in trouble, not that he’s toast. Pay no attention to the sage analysts who furrow their brows and note that no president since World War II has been reelected with unemployment above 7.2 percent. This figure is arbitrary and meaningless. Before Ronald Reagan won his second term in 1984, those same analysts would have sniffed that no postwar president had been reelected with the unemployment rate above 6 percent. Reagan won 49 states.

the rest:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/on-jobs-time-to-be-bold/2011/08/29/gIQAjtdIoJ_story.html

[tk2kewl]

1. k&r

:kick:

[Populist_Prole]

2. Knee-Jerk Repubs hate him anyway, why not give them a real reason?

K&R.

Appeasing them got him nowhere, and was bad for most citizens. An audacious move toward progressivism will surely inflame conservatives, but so what? They're just a motley collection of angry reactionary curmudgeons and lunatics anyway...they always were and they'll always be.

[Volaris]

10. I agree...If he's going to be accused of the "crime" of being a dirty Socialist Liberal

then he might as well MAKE himself be guilty of it. Besides...helping to turn the oppositions lies into truth? What could possibly be more bi-partisan than THAT lol?

[Overseas]

3. K&R. Yes please!

[bullwinkle428]

4. K&R. "Dribs and drabs" ain't gonna do squat.

[frazzled]

5. Sure, bit I doubt it would stop the complaining here

Ezra Klein wrote a similar column today, about how Obama should "go big" to "get small," because even if he comes out with something reasonable, the Republicans will have to shout it down and oppose it. In other words, he might as well lose while reaching for the sky, and perhaps lose less. We'll see.

None of these unrealistic, unreasonable, big plans would ever get passed in the form he proposes them. Which is sort of the point: at least we'd know he'd tried and when the Republicans scream no at least we'll maybe get the reasonable plan he would have proposed in the first place. But there's a mess of people here who would fail to take into consideration these politics, and scream how he'd sold out or compromised or broken a promise.

I don't see any winning in this jobs game. I'd like to be pleasantly surprised.

[tblue]

6. I hope to God Obama or his handlers read this.

They don't seem to know some of us have been saying this for 3 years! Be bold and own the solution, then dare the opposition to knock
It down. If they do, puck it up, point to them and say. "See!!"

[Myrina]

7. Fuck the handlers, I'd like POTUS and First Lady to read it ...

... and actually UNDERSTAND how badly the average working folk of America are in need of leadership and relief from all this pro-corporate bullshit.

[jwirr]

8. They ask other candidates what they read. Maybe it is time to ask

President Obama what he (and his aides) read both in papers and on the internet. Who he watches on tv. Then just maybe we would be able to understand where he is coming from.

[hifiguy]

9. Gene Robinson - always a voice of sanity

and sense. He's one of the best. And he's absolutely right.

[woo me with science]

11. K&R nt

[highplainsdem]

12. K&R

[Occulus]

13. It'll be milquetoast, just like almost everything else he's done

and yes, I include the healthcare law, and I include it first.

No faith in the man at this point. At. All.