Tonight's the night..
At midnight GMT.. Barack will address his nation to outline a 'new' job creation program designed to reduce the horrendous problem a 9% unemployment rate poses.. and deliver his plan to get America back on it's feet..
Frankly, expectations are not optimistic.. He's not even got the full support of his own Party.. Republicans are so certain he won’t offer anything new that some aren’t attending.. Democrats are questioning why the White House is pouring so much of its capital into another big speech.. And both parties are skeptical that any concrete action will come of it in Congress..
But for Obama, the speech is not only likely to be his last, best chance to take a serious stab at jolting the economy.. it’s also an opportunity to rebalance the debate in Washington, where Republicans have been steering the agenda since the November midterm elections.. His task is nearly impossible.. appease liberals.. appeal to independents.. win over some Republicans.. and make a compelling case to Washington-weary voters..
Progressives want Obama to ignore practical political considerations,that is, Republicans control the House.. and offer a package on par with the magnitude of the problem.. That means a plan worth at least $300 billion, with few tax cuts and lots of money for government-financed jobs, direct state aid and infrastructure projects..
They are way past viewing the GOP as a willing partner, and they’re wondering whether the president will agree and pitch a package that appeals to voters, not Capitol Hill Republicans..
The Obama who shows up tonight may be different than the one who hits the road Friday, heading to Richmond to campaign for the package..
Standing in front of Congress, Obama will be urgent and insistent, challenging lawmakers to put the economy ahead of their respective parties and to act on his proposals before the end of the year..
The question is whether Obama will go after Republicans more directly in the speech, as he tends to do on the stump. In essence, whether he will name names as they sit before him and put them on the spot. They are the party of tax cuts. So why are they signaling opposition to extending the payroll tax for workers.?
A partisan tone won’t sit well with Republicans, who are already casting the speech as political, particularly after the White House’s fumbled attempt to schedule it on the same night as the Republican presidential debate.. In a pre-emptive strike, House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor positioned themselves this week as arbiters of compromise..
Obama has tried for months to make a double-edged, seemingly contradictory argument.. The economy needs a short-term government stimulus and a long-term plan to cut government spending..
But for tonight, at least, Obama won’t dwell on the nuanced approach, which makes sense to economists and close observers of the Washington debate but can get lost in translation to the broader public..
Obama will challenge the 12-member congressional supercommittee to exceed its $1.5 trillion goal for budget savings.. setting a higher target that would allow additional money to fund tax breaks and other stimulus spending..
Obama speaks during the dinner hour on the East Coast and during the workday on the West Coast, and the broad outlines of the package are already known.. not exactly a recipe for big Nielsen ratings..
In Washington, a handful of Republican lawmakers are boycotting it, including Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois.. Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia.. and Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina.. Even some Democrats are cynical about the prospect of another whip-cream speech.. tasty but not filling..
According to a Democratic aide.. “The question isn’t, what will the speech say. The question is, what does he do after the speech is over..”
As they say, the proof of the pudding, is in the eating.. And the sad truth is, there is effectively nothing Barack can do other than offer a quick fix.. As said before, this is a global situation, one in which the economies of all countries are either in bankruptcy, or close to it..
Barack's one solution to reduce unemployment figures is to institute FDR's prototype 'New Deal'.. but once the American infrastructure is intact, the problem of these huge debts will still dangle like a Sword of Damocles over that country..
In this, the US is no different from any other country in these disturbed times.. It will take decades of education for the masses to accept the consequences of the sequences which led us here.. and educated they must be..
That, will not be in tonight's speech..
It is interesting to note, that analysts are universally pessimistic.. All our conditions for a recession are already in place.. The horrid connotation of the word 'Depression' has kept it out of sight.. Yet, in the classical sense, we have already filled all the criteria for that label..
But again, that won't be part of tonights speech..