President Obama signaled Tuesday that he is eager to bury the politically damaging debt debate so he can focus on issues much more important to the voters he’ll face next year: jobs and the economy.
After reassuring Democrats that he would continue pressuring Republicans to end tax breaks for the wealthy — a goal he’s sacrificed twice in previous negotiations — Obama on Tuesday called the historic debt deal “an important first step.” But he then quickly pivoted to demand that Congress approve a series of pending bills that the president said are needed to create more jobs, from patent reform to Federal Aviation Administration funding to international trade agreements.
“When Congress gets back from recess, I will urge them to immediately take some steps — bipartisan, common-sense steps — that will make a difference; that will create a climate where businesses can hire, where folks have more money in their pockets to spend, where people who are out of work can find good jobs,” Obama said. “There’s no reason for Congress not to send me those bills so I can sign them into law right away as soon as they get back from recess.”
The president clearly wants to move on from the debt debate — not only because it was so unpopular among Americans, but also because his chances for re-election will ultimately hinge on the health of the economy over the next year.
Congressional Republicans won’t make it easy for Obama to divert attention from Washington’s spending problem, however, longtime political consultant Steve Lombardo said.
“I think its going to be very, very difficult for Obama — even though he has the bully pulpit and he is the president — to move the conversation in a different direction,” Lombardo said. “Congressional Republicans really aren’t going to allow him to do that.”
Most of the Republican freshmen in the House won office last year on a promise to change Washington’s spending habits, which have amassed $14.3 trillion in debt so far.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, immediately pounced on Obama Tuesday for suggesting that Congress do anything but cut spending.
“After two-and-half years of a failed trillion-dollar stimulus, bank and auto bailouts, the president still believes that government can create jobs and turn the economy around,” Bachmann said. “Tell that to the millions of people who have lost their jobs while Washington continues to grow with its wasteful spending.”
Nonetheless, spending and deficit-cutting will likely be only a footnote during the president’s August campaign events, White House press secretary Jay Carney said.
“Averting a crisis is an important accomplishment,” Carney said, after advising reporters that Obama will be on the road a lot more in August. “But [Obama] will primarily focus, as he always does, on growing the economy and creating jobs.”
