Obama Looks to a Hire Power

Tony Perkins', FRC Washington Update: It took the President more than 4,100 words to describe his American Jobs Act--but he couldn't spare even one of them to explain how he planned to pay for it. Apparently, the tiny little detail of its "cost" will be released at a more convenient time (as in, off-air, away from the millions of viewers). But that $450 billion hiccup--and the absence of any concrete proposal--isn't standing in the way of the President's demands for passage. He scolded Congress for creating a "political circus" and instructed them to pass the Jobs plan "right away." It seems he wants to use the time before the deficit talks to add more to it!

As usual for this administration, it's pass now, pay later. "More targeted, temporary tax cuts; more spending now with promises of restraint later; the fifth (or is it sixth?) plan to reduce housing foreclosures; and more public works spending, though this time we're told the projects really will be shovel-ready," the Wall Street Journal quipped. "Americans were told [the 2009 stimulus] would create 3.5 million jobs and unemployment would stay blow 8%... It is now 9.1%. But this stimulus, we are told will make all the difference."

Obama regurgitated so much of his 2009 speech that the Washington Post actually made a game of it, publishing a pop quiz to see if readers could pick out which quotes came from which year. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), head of the Republican Study Committee joked that most of the President's address felt like the movie Groundhog Day. "Waking up each morning and trying the same failed approach all over again won't work any better," he said. Like most conservatives, he doesn't believe the government can spend its way out of this crisis. After all, if a trillion dollar stimulus didn't work, why would a half-trillion? Even the media came out swinging. The Associated Press pointed out the biggest whoppers of the night in its Fact Checker, including Obama's insistence that "Everything in this bill will be paid for." "It will not add to the deficit." "Everything in here is the kind of proposal that's been supported by both Democrats and Republicans..." And "[It] answers the urgent need to create jobs right away."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters, "This isn't a jobs plan. This is a reelection plan." But not a very good one, based on the President's tanking approval ratings.

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Tags: Barack Obama, American Jobs Act, whoppers, Tony Perkins, FRC, Family Research Council To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!