🚀 go-pugleaf

If President Obama does not reauthorize his job council this 
week, the move will likely spark criticism from Republicans and 
could disquiet some Democrats.
Obama has a lot on his legislative wish list, and Democrats on 
Capitol Hill do not want the White House to get distracted from 
the top issue on voters� minds: jobs and the economy.

The Jobs Council has met in full only four times in its two-year 
existence, according to its own website, though it also held 18 
�listening and action sessions� around the nation. Obama last 
year praised it as �a work council� rather than �a show council� 
and said that the White House had taken action on 33 of the 35 
executive actions that the council had recommended.

But doubt now hangs over the question of whether the council�s 
original charter will be extended beyond its two-year term, with 
a White House aide telling The Hill that it �was only intended� 
to last that long.

The executive order that created the council states, �The [jobs 
council] shall meet regularly� and it �shall terminate 2 years 
after the date of this order unless extended by the president.�

Last summer, White House press secretary Jay Carney was asked 
why the council had not met for several months.

�There�s no specific reason, except the president has obviously 
got a lot on his plate. But he continues to solicit and receive 
advice from numerous folks outside the administration about the 
economy, about ideas that he can act on with Congress or 
administratively to help the economy grow and help create jobs,� 
Carney said.

Among the council�s recommendations were to reduce government 
regulations. But in his second term, Obama is expected to pursue 
a slew of mandates via regulations, most notably on climate 
change.

The council�s winding-down could be seen as emblematic of a 
shift in emphasis by the administration. While Obama fought his 
reelection campaign primarily on �kitchen table� issues and a 
promise to strengthen the middle class, he has turned 
increasingly toward traditional progressive goals such as gun 
control, environmental protection and immigration reform in 
recent weeks.

This, in turn, fuels concerns among some Democrats that the 
White House risks looking as if it has taken its eye off the 
economic ball in order to pursue more glittering liberal prizes.

�I think that in second terms there is a temptation to do as 
much as you possibly can because there�s a realization that this 
is it,� said one Democratic strategist. �But I think there�s a 
cautionary tale there because it has caused previous 
administrations to lose focus.�

Republican strategist Ken Lundberg argued that if Obama fails to 
�keep the panel alive,� it would suggest �he�s not focused on 
the economy.�

Lundberg added: �How does the president dissolve his jobs panel 
when 12.2 million Americans are still looking for work? If the 
economy softens further, the president is going to have a hard 
time getting Congress to focus on anything else but jobs, and 
that means his agenda for gun control, climate change and 
immigration will have to wait.�

Some see Obama�s new emphasis on other issues as emanating from 
a desire to cater to the liberal activists whose support was so 
central to his winning a second term as president.

�These loyal Democrats such as environmentalists, people 
concerned about gun crimes, women, and those seeking liberalized 
immigration are getting the major part of the president�s 
attention and a substantial amount of his political energy,� 
said Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers 
University.

Obama has, in a sense, been here before.

In 2009 and early 2010, he pressed on with the battle for 
healthcare reform, even as the nation�s economy was ailing 
badly. Ultimately he succeeded, achieving the kind of expansion 
of healthcare coverage that Democrats had hankered after for a 
generation or more. But the fight used up valuable political 
capital, was highly contentious and is seen as having driven up 
Democratic losses in the 2010 midterm elections.

In 2011, congressional Democrats expressed frustration with 
Obama�s focus on cutting the deficit. A year later, they were 
pleased as the president�s election-year message homed in on 
jobs.

Now, some Democrats fear a repetition of that pattern.

�Both sides aren�t focusing in on what�s the most important 
issue right now,� the Democratic strategist said. �I think there 
will be a race to see who can grab onto the message focused on 
the economy. I think that�s going to be what determines who�s in 
control of the Senate and how well Democrats do at eating away 
at the Republican majority in the House.�

Independent experts feel that the kind of progressive goals for 
which Obama is aiming could be very hard to accomplish.

�With divided government, the president runs a risk of becoming 
an early lame duck if he can�t push at least some of his new 
proposals through Congress,� said Kyle Kondik, a political 
analyst at the University of Virginia.

�They are issues fraught with peril,� he added. �An assault 
weapons ban seems unlikely, though perhaps not universal 
background checks for guns. And what, exactly, will the 
president try to do about climate change? Republicans also have 
no incentive to help him succeed, fairly or unfairly.�

To be fair to Obama, it is hardly as if he is ignoring the 
economy. In his second inaugural address earlier this month, he 
reiterated, albeit in broad terms, his concern for the middle 
class.

�We, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when 
a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. 
We believe that America�s prosperity must rest upon the broad 
shoulders of a rising middle class,� he said.

More specifically, a clear administration priority for Obama�s 
second term is bedding down the Dodd-Frank financial reforms in 
the hope that the kind of corporate recklessness that fueled the 
Great Recession can be averted in the future. Last week he 
nominated erstwhile prosecutor Mary Jo White to lead the 
Securities and Exchange Commission. If confirmed, she will have 
a key role in putting meat on Dodd-Frank�s bones.

Some observers argue that the economy is now on a solid road to 
recovery, however. In their view, Obama needs to make the most 
use of the time he has left at the center of power � and that 
might mean moving on to other things.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/279487-obama-faces-
major-dilemma-on-expiring-jobs-council

--
Are you obligated as an armed civilian, to defend unarmed 
liberals while you are both under fire by foreign agents of the 
outlaw Obama administration?

No.  Shoot the liberals immediately so they can't stab you in 
the back while you are defending yourself, then return a 
controlled rate of aimed fire.  ��

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