The College Fix

Youth unemployment is at 16 percent for the sixth consecutive month. So, we asked a few of our regular contributors to react to President Obama’s jobs speech to Congress tonight, in which he extolled Congress, repeatedly, to pass the American Jobs Act. The reaction was…less than enthused.

Ralph Smith, opinion editor of the Alabama Crimson White

“This approach is basically the one I’ve been advocating for months,” President Obama said tonight after announcing that in two weeks he would announce a plan to address the federal budget deficit.

And for months, his approach hasn’t gone anywhere. His approach to the debt-ceiling was ultimately ignored by both parties in Congress. His approach to jobs and the economy has left us with 9.1 percent unemployment and an exploding federal debt. So of course, the White House concluded that another nationally televised speech was needed to help the president build support for his proposals.

“Should we keep tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires?  Or should we put teachers back to work so our kids can graduate ready for college and good jobs?” he asked. “Right now, we can’t afford to do both.”

The president doesn’t speak about creating a more prosperous economy for all; instead, he asks use to choose which class of people should benefit from the government the most. Usually the class of people the president is most eager to help work for the government.

How about a president who doesn’t ask Congress to choose between a menu of special tax breaks, but instead proposes long-term tax reforms that will reduce uncertainty and make America more competitive against foreign countries?

For that, we must look back to the people on stage at last night’s Republican presidential debate, the most significant prime time political event of the week.

Jeremy Rozansky, University of Chicago

Richard Brookhiser once commented that nostalgia was the babyfood of the right, while hope is the babyfood of the left. This evening, President Obama flung babyfood at the open mouth of America, again and again and again.

He began with nostalgia—there once was “an America where hard work and responsibility paid off” but now things are uncertain. Nevermind that this change has been wrought by long-term and not short-term trends. The hope was thicker babyfood, not in the form of flowery platitudes, but the suspension of disbelief in the abilities of central planning.

President Obama double-downed on his liberalism, promising something indistinguishable from a second Stimulus: increased infrastructure spending, extended unemployment benefits, payroll tax relief. It’s a recipe the American people are rightfully wary of, though the Obama camp is unlikely to again make the political mistake of estimating the result.

Unlike last time, Barack Obama plans to pay for it by cutting wasteful spending (which presumably is a minimal category—if it was wasteful, Obama would have already cut it) and raising taxes.

Most interesting though, was the rhetorical Obama who I was unaccustomed to. This was not an elegant oration or a pondering, stammering press-conference. This speech heard “We can make a difference,” “This is America,” and “That’s how America will be number one again!” delivered with the intonations of a summer camp storyteller and punctuated with the infomercial-huckster refrain of “You should pass it right away!” It was a humdrum, political speech. Just as he double-downed on liberalism, he double-downed on being a liberal and did so blandly.

In the words of President Obama, President Obama needs “to up [his] game.”

Vishal Ganesan, SFPA Fellow at the Daily Caller

This shall be remembered as the night when hope became “we can help” and change became “pass this bill now, pass this bill now, pass this bill now…etc. etc. etc.”

Indeed, although the president did throw some ideological jabs at the GOP, the speech was in many ways quite defensive. Of course, after weeks of taking a beating in the polls, the president intentionally kept his plan vague. We have a sense of major themes– corporate tax reform, incentive-driven tax breaks for small business, extension of unemployment benefits–but we won’t be sure of the details, including how exactly the president plans on paying for the plan, for some time. While the bill probably won’t be dead on arrival, the House Republicans will surely take no time to start ripping it apart. After all, the proposed price tag of $450 billion is, to state the obvious, a lot of money (consider that the projected total cost for the 2009 America Recovery and and Reinvestment Act was $787 billion) and Republicans are likely to look upon the President’s promise of future cuts with skepticism.

Then again, given the recent, uh, kerfuffle over the debt ceiling increase, one could make the argument that the president was not being defensive at all. Rather, he was just trying to shift the blame for the bad economy on to the congress. Now that he has made it quite clear that he wants congress to “pass the bill,” the president can sit back and call on Congress to act, lest our poorly educated, summer-job-less children become exposed to mercury.

Kyle Huwa, editor-in-chief Stanford Review

“You should pass it.”

Most Americans probably lost count of how many times President Obama said that phrase. It played into a new, more forceful rhetorical strategy. But while this strategy may look good in news highlights (which may be all that many voters ever see), those who watched the speech likely came away with a different opinion.

At $450 billion, Obama’s plan will do little to inspire business owners and the average American.  Even though short-term payroll tax cut extensions, middle-class tax cuts, and tax cuts for new employees would be beneficial, they clearly represent a short-term fix. An extension of unemployment benefits indicates a temporary solution. While Obama tried to both frame the package and his upcoming deficit legislation as a reshaping of the economy for the short-term and the long-term, his policy proposals indicated a focus on the immediate and temporary. In a year, the American Jobs Act funding will run out and small business owners will be uncertain about the taxes they owe.

Moreover, Obama’s deficit proposal that will be released Monday seems quite too late. What leverage does he have with Republicans at this point to request tax increases?

As many agreed before the speech, Obama needed to use this evening to inspire confidence. Instead, his proposals and his desperate pleas of “you should pass it” indicated a desperate president: desperate for effective policies and desperate for reelection.

Stephanie Wang, Editor-in-Chief of The Michigan Review

Were most of President Obama’s ideas really related to job creation? He announced that 35,000 schools across America would be modernized and repaired if this bill is passed. Also making an appearance in his speech: the high-speed rail (again) and a bridge between Ohio and Kentucky that is in need of repair.

Some measures will be impossible to pass with a Republican house. The bill would give a $4,000 tax break to those who have spent more than six months looking for work and would also extend unemployment insurance for another year. Necessary measures, he said, because that money is used to stimulate the economy.

After whining that Republicans used to want to spend money (transcontinental railroad, interstate highways), Obama said the bill would be completely paid for without increasing our $14 trillion deficit because he will call on Congress to increase the $1.5 trillion in spending that was agreed on during the infamous deficit deal.

This was a clever move. Obama gets to make a speech where he announces how we will “grow the economy,” and doesn’t have to do any of the dirty work of figuring out how to pay for it.

In any case, Obama seemed to be in campaign mode rallying Congress to vote on his jobs bill. It should give us an idea of what is to come during the 2012 election season.

Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter