Obama vs. GOP on jobs: Let the blame game begin (The Christian Science Monitor)

The partisan debate over jobs creation has descended into a blame game between President Obama and congressional Republicans.

“Over and over, they have refused to even debate the same kind of jobs proposals that Republicans have supported in the past – proposals that today are supported, not just by Democrats, but by Independents and Republicans all across America,” Obama complained in his radio address Saturday morning. “Meanwhile, they're only scheduled to work three more weeks between now and the end of the year.

Republicans in the House respond that they’ve passed 15 job-creating bills only to have those measures bottled up in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

“We call these bills the 'forgotten 15',” Rep. Bobby Schilling of Illinois said in the Republican address Saturday.

“These are common-sense bills that address those excessive federal regulations that are hurting small business job creation,” said Rep. Schilling, a freshman lawmaker whose family owns a pizza business in Moline. “A number of them have bipartisan support. Yet the Senate won't give these bills a vote, and the president hasn't called for action.”

The essence of the divide remains: Increase federal investment to stimulate job creation versus easing environmental and other regulatory restrictions that critics say can hinder job creation.

As with much of the debate in Washington these days – including the effort by the bipartisan congressional “super committee” to cut the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion before draconian budget cuts kick in automatically – this one can’t avoid the subject of taxes.

A new report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office gives Obama ammunition for his assertion that “millionaires and billionaires” can afford to pay more.

The CBO reported this week that while the rich got a lot richer over the past 30 years, the rest of American society struggled to keep up.

The CBO found that average after-tax income for the top 1 percent of US households had increased by 275 percent while middle-income households saw just a 40 percent rise and for those at the bottom of the economic scale, the jump was 18 percent.

"The distribution of after-tax income in the United States was substantially more unequal in 2007 than in 1979," CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf said in a blog post. " Income … for households at the higher end of the income scale rose much more rapidly than income for households in the middle and at the lower end of the income scale.â€

Obama says he’s doing what he can through executive order because GOP lawmakers refuse to consider his proposals.

On Friday, Obama directed government agencies to shorten the time it takes for federal research to turn into commercial products in the marketplace. The goal is to help startup companies and small businesses create jobs and expand their operations more quickly.

The president also called for creating a centralized online site for companies to easily find information about federal services. He previously had announced help for people who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth and for the repayment of student loans. The White House also challenged community health centers to hire veterans.

"We can no longer wait for Congress to do its job," Obama said Saturday. "So where Congress won’t act, I will."

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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Poll: If Debt Ceiling Compromise Not Reached -- Blame Republicans (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | Political strategy is such that tactics are always used to advance the overall agenda or strategy of the party. When tactics or a particular tactic is not working, then said tactic (or tactics) is altered or ditched in favor of a more viable tactic. Since a political party's primary overall strategy is to stay in power in order to promote their own -- as opposed to an opponent's -- agenda, the altering of tactics is often done by engaging in increased compromise, diplomacy, and leverage, so as not to lose the particular goal of that tactic altogether. Such an alteration in tactics for Republicans concerning the debt ceiling may be in order, especially since a recent Pew Research Poll notes that most would blame Republicans if the debt ceiling were allowed to remain static and the federal government was forced to shut down.

According to the poll, 42 percent of Americans would blame the Republican Party if a compromise is not reached on the debt ceiling impasse by August 2, the date that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said is the absolute latest he can juggle marginal and postpone-able programs in order to keep the country running without borrowing money to do so. After August 2, the federal government will go into shutdown mode, with all nonessential programs closing down for lack of funding. Another 33 percent of the poll respondents say they would blame President Obama and the Democratic Party; 13 percent said that they would blame neither or both; and 11 percent said they did not know.

With independents in a statistical tie (36 percent to 34 percent would blame Republicans over Democrats), it is even more telling is that more Republicans would blame their own party if a compromise isn't reached. Members of the GOP would blame Democrats more (58 percent) but 22 percent would blame the members of their own party. The Democrats are more lopsided, with 72 percent of their number blaming Republicans while only 15 percent would blame Democrats.

Setting aside who would actually be to blame or if both parties should share responsibility should a compromise not be reached and the government be forced to shut down in August, the perception of who is to blame could have devastating consequences. It did in 1996 when a Republican Congress refused to raise the debt ceiling, forcing the government to shut down for the second time within a few months. The subsequent public backlash was far fewer Republicans holding public office after the Mid-Term elections. And it could happen again.

Since Republicans have recently embraced fiscal federal responsibility and national debt management, they seem to have taken a increasingly hard line on borrowing for government expenditures, not to mention the House of Representatives' stance as soon as Republicans took over in January 2011 to not allow legislation that costs taxpayers to not already have a built-in payment system included in the legislation. However, the debt ceiling is a limit set in place by Congress several decades ago that was hoped would curb government spending. It requires that Congress agree to raise the acquired debt limit in order for the federal government to borrow money in which to operate beyond its revenue intake.

Simply put: Republicans could find themselves blamed again. Talks are sluggish to stalled in Washington at present, according to NPR. House Minority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) walked away from negotiations Thursday, reportedly over talks of raising taxes (actually allowing tax breaks to expire) which Republicans feel is a deal breaker.

But shouldering the blame for a government shutdown just might cost Republicans control of Congress in 2012 if the backlash of public displeasure is strong enough. Then the recently embraced agenda of federal spending responsibility might be compromised as well. Besides, where is the responsibility in allowing loans to be defaulted on, not to mention allowing the all too possible damage to the strength of the dollar, which could find itself easily replaced as the world's most used reserve currency?

If the overall strategy of the Republican Party is to stay in power in order to enact their agenda, given the current public mood, some form of compromise on the debt ceiling needs to be considered. Alteration of tactics are often crucial in allowing the overall strategy to remain in play. Choosing a hard line could very well be costly for the Republicans, not to mention the entire nation with regard to its credit status and its financial obligations.

As more Americans become educated as to the what the debt ceiling is, the Republicans might find themselves in an even worse position. Thus far, most of the Republican support has been driven by fear of the rising national debt and equating not raising the debt ceiling to the U. S. not incurring more debt -- which is not the way either entity actually works. The national debt rises daily simply on the accumulation of interest on the loans already taken. The debt ceiling is just a legal limit the government imposed upon itself to curb government spending through profligate borrowing. It also imposes the added regulation that, without Congressional approval, more money cannot be borrowed. And since the government operates on borrowed money (because it spends more than it takes in via revenue sources -- where all those tax breaks and loopholes come back to haunt), Congressional approval of raising the debt ceiling is a must for the government to maintain its normal day-to-day operations.

Republicans at present are attempting to leverage a possible raising of the debt ceiling against fiscal spending cuts as well as future spending cuts and program defundings. Democrats have grudgingly allowed a few possible budgetary spending cuts but also want to reinstate tax breaks and eliminate tax loopholes that have decreased revenue over the past decade. The parties are at virtual impasse.

And the clock is winding down to a government shutdown. In the end, both sides will most likely give a little in order to reach compromise. However, if public sentiment continues to poll against the GOP as to blameworthiness, the legislators might want to begin looking into a little tactical correction.

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