Face the Facts No Matter How Unpleasant They May Be

Unemployment is a symptom of a stagnant or shrinking economy. Consequently, if the Obama administration were serious about trying to create jobs -- something government really cannot  effectively do permanently -- it would be treating only a recurring symptom and not the underlying causative  problem.

Obama inherited a bad economy, and like the preceding Bush administration, it has been endeavoring to stem the decline. Had our governmental geniuses left things alone, the economy would have plunged, hit bottom, and (at some unknown rate) bounced back. This has occurred time and time again as market forces have wrung out the results of bad business and financial decisions and economic excesses. The most recent example of this was the short lived downturn that resulted from the bursting of the dot com bubble about which the government did nothing. Efforts to artificially interfere with that process always exacerbate and extend the duration of the problem. The depth and persistence of the downturn always is proportional to politically motivated efforts to make it appear that the government is capable of, and is doing something beneficial about the problem.

All this is irrelevant as Obama's so-called American Jobs Act was created and is being promoted by the administration not to do anything about either jobs or the economy. It has no chance of being, and never was intended to be enacted into law. In fact, Obama ally, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blocked a Republicon effort to bring the measure up for an immediate vote. The whole thing is a charade being staged to give the hapless Obama a campaign issue to bolster his fading chances to get reelected next year.

Focusing on campaigning is probably a wise course of action for the former community organizer. It's always a good idea to do what one does well and he is pretty good at giving speeches and campaigning. He is not anywhere near as good at the task of governing, and demonstrates mind boggling ineptitude whenever he tries his hand at such tasks as formulating or implementing public policies.