Miami Herald speaks for America: Put us to work

“Put us back to work

 

OUR OPINION: Effective jobs plan a challenge for Obama, Congress

BY THE MIAMI HERALD EDITORIAL

HERALDED@MIAMIHERALD.COM

As the president and members of Congress focus on putting Americans back to work, they should be keenly aware that voters are fed up with political bickering. They’re unlikely to change their minds until they see actual proof of improvement in the economy.

The president’s jobs program, as outlined in a speech to Congress Thursday night, contains no silver bullets. Even he didn’t characterize it that way. But it has a number of good ideas that can produce more jobs, both directly by giving employers incentives to hire and — perhaps more important — indirectly by reinvigorating consumer demand.

The president replaced his traditional rhetorical flourishes with a plainspoken appeal for jobs calculated to attract Republican support because many of the ideas had GOP backing at one time or another, like the $4,000 tax credit for companies that hire anyone who has spent more than six months looking for a job. It won’t create an avalanche of hiring, but it’s enough to make a difference for business people who want to hire on a limited budget and are awaiting consumer demand to act.

Another good idea is to put people to work modernizing at least 35,000 schools and improving decaying roads and bridges. Anyone who drives on America’s badly maintained roadways or visits schools knows there’s work to do.

If passed, the package would likely produce a lift in growth. Maybe not soon enough, and not in sufficient numbers, but enough to start to turn the jobs picture around. The question, however, is not so much whether the proposal will work, but whether lawmakers and the chief executive can work together to enact any practical jobs plan.

At the moment, there’s a vicious cycle fueled by lack of confidence in America’s national leaders. After the sorry spectacle of the debt ceiling crisis, many Americans believe Washington is dysfunctional. Poll after poll shows Congress and the president have lost so much support among ordinary Americans that they no longer enjoy the confidence of the electorate, and this lack of confidence contributes to the uncertainty over the future that paralyzes economic growth.

The editor in chief of the Gallup Poll puts it this way: “There is a negative mood abroad in the general American consciousness at this juncture in history, and this negative mood is affecting Americans’ views in a very general way.”

For the president, this means that speeches aren’t enough. First, he has to go out in the country and sell his plan to the American people, convincing voters it’s more than a reelection plan. Then he must follow through with the difficult legislative politics, a hallmark of any effective president.

At least six congressional committees must sign off on the proposal. That’s where the special interests will concentrate their attention. And that’s where Mr. Obama should focus his own efforts.

Finally, Mr. Obama has to come up with a realistic and practical way to pay for the $447 billion plan with a package of tax cuts he’ll unveil next week. A reform of the tax code should be part of it.

For Republicans who want to put Americans back to work, this is a challenge. Constructive debate is one thing, obstructionism another.

Lately there’s been too much obstructionism without a sense of duty to compromise. Americans can’t wait until the next election to get back to work.

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