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Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

The American Jobs Act – OPEN THREAD

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At 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific), President Obama will address a joint session of Congress to deliver his plan to create jobs and grow the economy. Senior Advisor, David Plouffe, who has been a key figure in crafting the strategy, says we can expect to hear the President detail a plan that will rebuild our economy, and further, issue a challenge to Congress to meet their responsibilities. All indications are that the address will be part policy, and part politics:

MOAR JOBS PLZ

Barack Obama is to throw down the gauntlet to Republicans, demanding they back his $300 billion jobs plan or face the wrath of voters blaming them for refusing to help revive the American economy.

The stakes are high, and so are expectations. This just might be the President’s last, best chance to jumpstart the economy and bring some semblance of balance to the debate in Washington, where The H2tN (Hell to the NO!) Party have been dry-humping the agenda since the midterms. The challenges are immense: Can he appeal to D.C.-weary independents? Appease liberals? We’ll find out soon enough.

Here’s Plouffe with a preview of the address:

If you’re so inclined, you can watch an enhanced live stream of the speech here. The live stream will include charts, graphs, and statistics to highlight key points.  Once POTUS has concluded, a live panel of policy experts from the White House will be available to answer questions. The Panel:

Stephanie Cutter,  Assistant to the President and Deputy Senior Advisor

Brian Deese, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director, National Economic Council

Roberto Rodriguez, Special Assistant to the President for Education Policy

Portia Wu, Senior Policy Advisor for Mobility and Opportunity Policy

To find out how you can submit questions, click here. This is an OPEN thread. Post your predictions, reactions, complaints, concerns, and Unicorn Pornography thoughts below. Depending how things go, I might end up in the same predicament as this Moose:

SWEDEN — A seemingly intoxicated moose has been discovered entangled in an apple tree by a stunned Sweden.

Per Johansson, 45, says he heard a roar from his vacationing neighbor’s garden in southwestern Sweden late Tuesday and went to have a look. There, he found a female moose kicking about in the tree. The animal was likely drunk from eating fermented apples.

How do you like them apples?


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 131 Comments

131 comments

  1. fogiv

    Apples in the attic,

    Apples in the hall,

    Apples in the summer,

    Apples in the fall.

    Apples make you healthy,

    Apples make you tall.

    I will eat some apples,

    I will eat them all!

     

  3. fogiv

    Washington (CNN) – She didn’t get a lot of camera time in Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate, but Rep. Michele Bachmann may be in the spotlight Thursday night, following President Obama’s jobs speech in front of Congress.

    The three-term congresswoman from Minnesota and GOP White House hopeful announced Thursday morning that she will hold a news conference on Capitol Hill to react to the president’s address.

    http://politicalticker.blogs.c…

    Nobody seems to know whether or not she’ll actually look at the camera while she makes sounds with the mouth part of her face.  I put the odds at 50/50.

  4. fogiv

    White House spokesman Jay Carney told CNN that Obama will send Congress legislation titled the American Jobs Act next week, based on the plan that one Democratic source said will exceed $400 billion in tax cuts, extend unemployment benefits and offer other measures intended to boost job creation and economic growth.

    “He will challenge Congress to examine what he’s put forward, to recognize that all of these ideas are bipartisan in nature,” Carney said. “They’re the kinds of things that Republicans and Democrats have broadly supported in the past. And that, therefore, given the fact that they’re paid for, given the fact that the economy needs help and that Americans need help, Congress should act right away and get it done.”

    http://edition.cnn.com/2011/PO…

  18. HappyinVT

    But then I’m sure someone’s pissed off because…

    And why is Tom Coburn chewing gum in the Senate chambers?

  21. fogiv

    (Reuters) – The United States has credible but unconfirmed information about a possible terrorism threat surrounding the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, a U.S. official told Reuters on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    “The context is still forming,” the U.S. official cautioned, adding the threat appeared connected to Washington and New York City but other cities could not be ruled out.

    http://www.reuters.com/article…

  22. Shaun Appleby


    “This isn’t grandstanding. This isn’t class warfare. This is simple math”

    Makes you stop and think?  Hope so.

  23. Shaun Appleby

    The opinions are all over the place but this makes sense:


    The ability of Republicans to enjoy power without responsibility gives them perverse incentives, and requires of them a selflessness that is the opposite of the incentive structure intended by ours or any democratic system.

    Obama’s speech will probably not force Republicans to act. But it may help clarify that they are the ones blocking action.

    Jonathan Chait – What Will Obama’s Speech Accomplish? TNR 8 Sep 11

    For those who need it spelled out in BBC “simple English.”

  24. Shaun Appleby

    Of all the political chips falling in the last few days the defining popular culture moment relevant to the coming elections was the “glass-bottomed boat” shock of the Republican debate audience’s ovation for the execution of two-hundred and thirty-four souls in Texas.  Truly ugly with no socially redeeming value.

    That was definitely an introspective challenge for all concerned.  For non-Republicans especially.  There is evil abroad in this land and ignorance is no excuse.  Time to redouble our efforts, we so outnumber them.

  25. DeniseVelez

    and diction. Terse, crisp, faster pace -very distinctly different than his norm.

    Jaw locked, stabbing finger/hand moves.

  27. jsfox

    It is time to step away from the keyboard and grab your phones and make the calls to your Congress critters. I don’t give a rat’s ass if your’s is some Tea Party lunatic call them and tell them to pass The American Jobs bill! It is long past time they did something for all the American people and not just the lunatic fringe.

  30. Chris Blask

    False:

    The Bush tax cuts “created about 8 million jobs over the first 10 years that they were in existence. We’ve lost about 5 million of those jobs during this recession.”

    John Boehner on Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 in an interview on NBC’s “Today” show.

    …

    Employment under Bush grew by 4.5 percent using CES and 7 percent using CPS, whereas employment grew by double digits under presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, and also under the combined eight-year administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, who finished Nixon’s term after he resigned, and John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Only under Eisenhower was job growth more sluggish than it was under George W. Bush, and even then, it was only the case using one of the two BLS statistics. (Burtless did not compare job growth during the administrations of George H.W. Bush or Jimmy Carter because they served only one term each.)

    Where does all this leave us? First, under the most common yardstick for measuring employment — the CES data — Boehner’s claim is significantly overstated. Second, while Boehner is closer when using a different statistic, it’s only more accurate if he uses a time period much different than the one he stated in the interview. And third, his suggestion that the tax cuts are primarily responsible for subsequent job growth is contentious at best (and the job growth he points to is modest compared to previous administrations).

    So the numbers Boehner offers are accurate only with significant adjustments. Overall, we find his statement too flawed to give it a rating higher than False.

  31. DTOzone

    after a 9 day cruise to the Bahamas and for the first time, i feel like a foreigner here. I felt the moment i stepped onto the pier in Manhattan this morning like I got a whole lot dumber and more ignorant.

  35. creamer

    I’m a little puzzled. It seems obvious to anyone on the left. He framed it nicley with including many things that republicans have voted for in the past. It seems he needs to say it outloud. Is he afraid of being accussed of whining?

     If he’s waiting for the public to grasp this on their own

    he might be might wait until 2012.

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