'Too many folks are hurting to do nothing'

The Observer's editorial for Tuesday, Oct. 18:

Yes, the bus is a gimmick. No, it’s not an accident that President Barack Obama picked North Carolina and Virginia, two swing states he won in 2008 that he could easily lose in 2012, for his three-day tour that continues Tuesday outside Greensboro.

So while voters surely recognize that this is as much campaign event as it is governing, that shouldn’t undermine the substance of what Obama is campaigning, or leading, on: jobs.

Does it hack you off that Obama is spending taxpayer money holding campaign-style events talking about his jobs plan? This should hack you off a lot more: The Senate, fresh off a vacation, can’t take up any jobs legislation until November, its leaders say, because they’re going on vacation again next week!

Are they kidding? With millions of people out of work and many millions more underemployed, the Senate will stall jobs legislation because they’re taking a week off? Maybe they should cancel their recess and tackle the biggest issue facing this nation. Debate Obama’s plan. Debate the Republicans’ plan. And then compromise on something that will move the economic needle.

We could have done without some of Obama’s blatant campaign rhetoric Monday, including when he sarcastically said Republicans couldn’t understand his whole jobs bill and so he needed to break it into smaller pieces.

But he did say one thing that was dead-on:

“We can’t do nothing. Too many folks are hurting out there to do nothing.”

With a presidential election around the corner, though, that’s probably what we’ll get. The economy will remain paralyzed so that no one gains a political advantage by actually doing something about it. A USA Today-Gallup poll taken over the weekend found that Americans blame Washington over Wall Street for the poor economy, 64 percent to 30 percent. Those numbers will only tilt further that way if Congress doesn’t act soon.

The first “bite-sized” piece congressional Democrats will push is $35 billion to hire and retain teachers, police officers and firefighters. It’s a small step that shouldn’t be controversial.

Other parts of Obama’s plan are improvements over the first Recovery Act. A big chunk of the cost would continue a payroll tax cut for workers and businesses, a provision both parties have supported before. Another big piece is specifically targeted to jobs in construction by paying for new schools, roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

Clearly, politics underlies the calculations on all sides of the debate. But Americans are weary, and Obama and Republicans playing chicken over whom voters will blame for inaction could make them both roadkill.

Taylor Batten, on behalf of the editorial board