“What on earth are we waiting for?” is a rhetorical question President Obama posed to Congress in a stump speech for the American Jobs Act in Denver today, as he suggested that Republicans who oppose his bill don’t “actually care about America’s jobs creators” while revealing some of his own emotions through improvised remarks.
In the context of education spending in the bill, Obama said (a little snarkily), “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but [technology and] the world has changed since the 1960s.” The sarcasm there was Obama’s own, as he ad-libbed the “I don’t know if you’ve noticed” bit. According to his prepared remarks, Obama was supposed to note that the classrooms at Lincoln High, where he spoke, dated back to the 1960s, before adding that “science and technology have changed just a little bit since then. The world has changed since then.”
Moments later he said, “There is work to be done and workers to do it so tell Congress, pass this jobs bill right away.”
Obama then turned his attention to Republicans – another ad-lib, as the prepared remarks say “Congress,” – saying “if you actually care about America’s jobs creators you should actually help America’s jobs creators by passing this bill, right away.”
Obama criticized “some Republicans” for allegedly saying that the President’s plan should be delayed until after the 2012 election.
Obama did not mention that Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said today that the other legislation had “to get done first” and so he would delay a vote on the president’s jobs plan until after recess.
