President Obama ordered Congress to “pass this bill” more than a dozen times last night. There is just one problem: no such bill exists. After Obama’s speech, White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett said Obama would be drafting the legislation next week. If Obama really wanted his “American Jobs Act” to pass, he would have had the text of the legislation ready for everyone to read last night.
Instead, the White House circulated a bogus Fact Sheet which even the Associated Press quickly pointed out was filled with “highly iffy propositions.” The biggest bamboozle Obama tried to pass off was that his plan “is fully paid for.” The AP exposed this falsehood: “Essentially, the jobs plan is an IOU from a president and lawmakers who may not even be in office down the road when the bills come due. … there is no guarantee that programs that clearly will increase annual deficits in the near term will be paid for in the long term.”
Fortunately, Republicans seem to be on to Obama’s game. Freshman Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., told The Examiner‘s Susan Ferrechio that while, “there were a lot of things that sounded really good tonight,” when it came to paying for the plan, “it sounds like it would be paid for with the ‘spreading the wealth’ concept.”
But the White House already knows Republicans will not support this bill. In fact, senior White House aides are telling The Washington Post they expect Obama’s jobs Act to fail. Obama then plans to blame the GOP’s unwillingness to pass his jobs bill on the failing economy. It is not the best plan in the world, but it is all Obama has left.
Around the Bigs
Reuters, Global stocks fall on U.S. growth worries; euro stumbles: Global stocks fell Friday as Obama failed to convince markets he had a real plan to help the global economy. “Investors are holding back…There isn’t any reason to commit until you can see credible policies,” Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management, told Reuters.
The Seattle Times, Longshoremen clash shuts Northwest ports: Early Thursday morning, at least 500 International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) members wielding baseball bats and crowbars stormed the Port of Longview, broke windows in the guard shack, held six guards captive, cut brake lines on boxcars and dumped grain. As a result of union violence the ports of Seattle, Tacoma, Everett and Anacortes are all shut down.
San Jose Mercury News, FBI agents search Solyndra’s Fremont headquarters: At least 30 FBI agents and investigators from the Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General conducted a surprise raid on the now-failed poster child of Obama’s first stimulus plan, Solyndra. Mohammed Walahi, who began working as a process technician for Solyndra, told the Mercury News, “At least $100,000 a day was thrown away. If they are wasting $100,000 a day, how much is that a month or a year? Of course that’s going to lead to bankruptcy.”
The Los Angeles Times, Fast and Furious guns tied to second violent crime: Two Arizona undercover police officers were allegedly assaulted last year when they attempted to stop two men in a stolen vehicle who possessed weapons connected to ATF’s failed Fast and Furious gun-walking program. The incident occurred five months after ATF began Fast and Furious, and nine months before U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in an assault involving Fast and Furious guns.
The New York Times, Dodd-Frank a Paperwork Bonanza for Lawyers and Consultants: According to The New York Times, Obama’s signature financial reform bill has become “a gold mine” for lawyers and consultants and lobbyists. “It is a full-employment act,” Debevoise partner Gregory Lyons told The Times. “The law is passed, but we are still reasonably early in the process. There is still a lot to be written.”
The Wall Street Journal, U.S. Sees ‘Credible’ 9/11 Terror Threat: U.S. security officials are on high alert after the government received specific and “credible” intelligence that al Qaeda militants in Pakistan may be pursuing a plot to carry out car or truck bombings in Washington and New York City, around the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The New York Times, Omitting Clergy at 9/11 Ceremony Prompts Protest: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg decision not to include any clergy members as speakers at Sunday’s 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero is coming under attack. “We’re not France,” the Southern Baptist Convention’”s Richard Land told The Times. “Mr. Bloomberg is pretending we’re a secular society, and we are not.”
The Wall Street Journal, Pennsylvanians Ordered to Flee Flood Zone: Nearly 100,000 Pennsylvanians were told to evacuate their homes Thursday as remnants of Tropical Storm Lee caused flooding along the Susquehanna River.
The Los Angeles Times, More than 4 million lose power in major blackout: A utility worker doing maintenance near Yuma, Ariz., triggered a massive blackout that left more than 4 million people across Southern California without power Thursday.
Lefty Playbook
The Washington Post‘s Greg Sargent: “Yes, it was just a speech. Yes, Republicans will likely oppose just about everything in it. Yes, we don’t know what Obama and Dems will ultimately agree to on entitlements and on the Congressional super-committee. Yes, Dems have been playing on GOP turf for far too long. But we simply needed to hear a genuine and ambitious effort to get Washington talking about jobs in a serious way, and this speech was just that. If this is the template for what lies ahead, it’s encouraging indeed.”
Talking Points Memo‘s Josh Marshall: “I’d say the President got off to a slow, rocky start. A skeptical audience not only on the Republican side, which is obvious, but weirdly from the Democrats too. But it’s picked up steam and momentum over the last half hour, hitting a few key themes over and over. The speech and delivery have urgency without seeming desperate.”
Daily Kos‘ Jed Lewison: “As usual, excellent speech. Most of the specific proposals were either good or harmless. On balance, probably worth passing. But I’m still scared as hell about what might come of it if the White House sits down to negotiate it with the GOP. That’s where I hope people listen to his call to action, and push not just Congress, but also the administration, to do what’s right for the economy.”
Righty Plabook
Gibson Guitar Corp CEO Henry Juszkiewicz told The Corner what he thought of Obama’s speech: “We’re under attack. It’s pretty interesting to see that one of the points in Obama’s speech was to cut back regulation and promote jobs, when, in fact, he’s done just the opposite with us. We have been under investigation and harassment for over two years and and that continues on — seized goods, shut down our plant.”
Heritage Foundation analysts reacted to Obama’s speech including this line from Patrick Knudsen: “It is absurd that this President — who ignored the recommendations of his own fiscal commission, and then sought to raise the debt ceiling without a nickel of spending reductions — now demands the super-committee created in the debt-ceiling negotiations to come up with additional savings to pay for his jobs proposal.”
RedState‘s Erick Erickson says Obama has sowed the seeds of his own destruction: “Barack Obama has largely proposed a plan key portions of which can pass with bipartisan support. And they will pass with bipartisan support. And there will be a grand bipartisan signing ceremony. Lots of pictures will be taken. No jobs will actually be created. The recession will double dip. But Barack Obama will have gotten his bipartisan jobs plan. So he will not be able to blame the GOP. He’ll have to blame mother nature again.”
