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    The Week

    Will Obama's jobs speech matter?

    In a big speech after Labor Day, the president will reportedly outline his plan to beat unemployment. Can he say anything to give people hope?

    In a fresh bid to kickstart economic recovery, President Obama reportedly plans to spell out new ideas to create jobs in a major address planned for early September. The Associated Press said the plan would likely include tax cuts, spending on infrastructure, and aid to people who have been unemployed for months. Can Obama offer struggling families new hope, or will he merely be repeating proposals we've heard before?

    This can shake America, and Obama, out of a funk: Pointedly presenting an ambitious jobs agenda right now is a "very good idea," says Steve Benen at Washington Monthly. Not only is it what the country needs, "it also helps shift the larger conversation away from the obsession over the debt." This is a chance for Obama to show that his "priorities are sound, give the left something to fight for," and force Republicans to stop whining — or come up with their own viable proposals.
    "Obama to present jobs agenda in September"

    Obama is just reviving his old, failed ideas: If Obama had a clue how to create jobs, he would have done something that worked three years ago, says Andrew Stiles at National Review. If he wants to give people hope, he'll drop his "Keynesian fantasy" and try something truly new. But it seems pretty clear he plans to simply propose another so-called stimulus. "But it’s not really another stimulus, you see, because the president will ask the supercommittee to propose a super huge deficit-reduction plan to make up for it."
    "Obama may ask for more stimulus"

    Anything short of a bold new plan will fall flat: "With unemployment chronically hovering around nine percent," promising to hire people to fix roads and bridges won't cut it, says Jamie Stiehm at U.S. News & World Report. If Obama wants to instill optimism, and do some good, he'll have to spell out a serious plan to "get businesses sitting on cash back in the business of hiring workers." Two years ago, Obama's "beautiful words" were enough to inspire hope — now, if he doesn't have a ground-breaking jobs strategy, he should save his breath.
    "Obama needs a serious jobs agenda"

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    1,391 comments

    • Pat Walsh  •  5 mths ago
      Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzplease dont disturb me.
    • Been_there_too  •  5 mths ago
      It may matter to a few deranged unemployed people who have already lost everything hoping for change.
    • just sayin'  •  5 mths ago
      The only lips that will be moving will be Edgar Bergen's.
    • Jan  •  5 mths ago
      No. It didn't matter last year and more lying words won't matter this year either.
    • Arnie  •  5 mths ago
      We need to give him a good ol American name instead of a Muslim one since he is a president of the USA. Zippo ! Let's add up what he has done and that will show you why I chose that name. jobs = zip, housing = zip, healthcare = zip, illegal imigration = zip that total is Zippo. Can Americans handle another three yrs. of Zippo in these areas ? No ! I don't think so !
    • PUD  •  5 mths ago
      It'll matter only if Obama gets "laid off"......... REJOICE!!!!
    • Yahoo User  •  5 mths ago
      everyone knows he's a pathological liar at this point
    • Willie Gee  •  5 mths ago
      no thanks, i saw the movie and it suchked
    • Matt H  •  5 mths ago
      The Telepromiter in Chief!!!
    • BlueEagle  •  5 mths ago
      His speech won't matter in the least unless he is taking an early out to avoid embarrassment.
    • Scott  •  5 mths ago
      Obama you are neither a commander or chief . Leave this country and take reid and polosi with you good luck in your new socialist kenya.
    • Scott  •  5 mths ago
      His speech is just that a speech. Means nothing all he does is talk.shut up already !take the next year off it would be more productive for jobs! Bye d.a.
    • Scott  •  5 mths ago
      Obummer your job plan is more blah blah blah.we quit listening
    • Jeffrey  •  5 mths ago
      The U.S. public cannot expect anything that Obama does to have an effect on America's present jobs situation.
      -
      Think about it - he cannot "create jobs" except for government positions without increasing the national debt... and that would have Republicans shouting from the rooftops that he's trying to establish a "socialist/communist/Marxist state," possibly as some sort of "Muslim terrorist 'Manchurian Candidate' plot"... and trying to impose another huge stimulus deal for the working man would have exactly the same effect and engender exactly the same response.
      -
      Apparently the only way that he can promote job creation in the private sector without freaking out the conservative element is to cut taxes more, which would put the country further into debt and cause a freakout in the Democratic element along the lines of a "betrayal of their support and his ideals"... and he would have to cut social programs that help the poor and downtrodden (or "the lazy" in the minds of some).
      -
      This isn't Obama's "dance" - he is not in charge of creating jobs, and even "talking a good game" about jobs will not have all that much of an effect, if any. According to economists, the key to recovery from a recession (and thus job creation) is stimulating the economy. This was done once, and it helped U.S. businesses immensely... but these same economists say that the stimulus wasn't large enough: it didn't really help in the creation of new jobs. I sincerely believe that though a larger stimulus package may have helped, it would not help nearly as much as it has in the past.
      -
      The erosion of the manufacturing sector in the U.S. has likewise eroded the middle class, leaving a lower class desiring social programs and government-mandated/managed/funded jobs to be able to live in some semblance of comfort and an upper class desiring tax cuts so as to keep more of the money that it has earned and prevent those who did not earn it from taking a share of it. Domination of support to either side does not work: obviously the creation of a huge "welfare class" is a sure way of destroying the economy - it further expand the national debt and will implode the economy, creating an epic national security issue and a worldwide depression. Government support of a small, super-wealthy upper class while a majority struggles or starves is a recipe for massive civil unrest and possibly even a revolution of sorts... besides, U.S. businesses have made a collective profit of about $1 trillion per year for the past 3.5 years but have created almost no new jobs outside of minimum-wage service and fast-food "Mcjobs" - another $200 billion of tax cuts per year will not cause businesses to create new jobs.
      -
      So, what to do? The polarization of the political landscape in the U.S. has seemingly increased in correspondence to the erosion of the middle class - cooperation seems highly unlikely... yet I believe that it is necessary and actually the only way to get the economy out of the weird "hole" in which it presently is trapped.
    • craig  •  5 mths ago
      the rw naysayers have been bombarding americans with so much "can't do" and "we are broke", that americans are giving up the ghost.
    • Pat Walsh  •  5 mths ago
      He acts like a king giving scraps of food off his table to the people.you want employment to go up,stock market go up and make most people (except welfare cheats and blacks(nothing racial there)happy.Resign.How does he walk around with so many lib. heads up his butt.
    • simple53  •  5 mths ago
      3 questions your ask before swearing in to a political office. Are you an expert liar,Can you handle making more money then you ever dreamed of .Would you be willing to do 1or maybe2% of the punishment if you get caught in one of our schemes.
    • Aaronski Man  •  5 mths ago
      His speeches have never mattered and they never will. However, the manner in which he manipulates the context is very important. The Bama doesn't have the mental capacity to understand that the massive majority of the american people are far more educated and experienced than he is. He's a scam. We know it. He doesn't.
    • jim  •  5 mths ago
      Obama will annoucing that he will try to stimulate the economyby giving out slave repairations to all of Eric Holder's people.
    • RTC  •  5 mths ago
      His speech will make no impact .... he's a pathological liar. Nobody actually believes anything he says (or reads off the teleprompter).