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Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Difference Between Improbable And Impossible

It should be no surprise to anyone that the right wing media threw visual, audio, and printed garbage at the President again yesterday, as he visited a school in the DC metro area. It should also be no surprise to see the shuffling of GOP 2012 Presidential candidates in multiple polls that came out yesterday.

We don't mean to sound jaded, but the facts regarding who is doing what - or NOT doing what - in Washington are very clear.

On Wednesday, President Obama was just getting back from a swing through the Western United States, where he made several campaign fundraising stops, and also visited young students and pushed for his jobs bill. Instead of heading to Capitol Hill to work with Congress - which he couldn't do, since BOTH the House and Senate are on vacation again - the President went to a DC high school, and gave the kids there his annual back-toschool message.

He could have told the kids what most of them already know - that even if they do go on to college or tech school, there may not be jobs available in their field of study when they get out. Instead, President Obama remained positive and told the kids to work hard, get good grades, and go on to almost any kind of post-high school formal education, from trade schools, to certifications, to community and four-year colleges.

The President's message was considered by some to also be a subtle jobs pitch - which is a good thing for a nation desperate to get its people back to work.

What's more, a group of 34 economists, after looking at the President's American Jobs Plan are now saying the $447 billion dollar plan would do exactly what the President says it would - help avoid a deeper recession, and spur job growth across the country.

It's obvious the President has gotten the message from the American people, on jobs and the economy - and he's trying to act on it.

Meanwhile, his opposition - the Republicans in Congress - haven't really been saying anything -- because, as we already mentioned, they're on vacation again.

The Republicans who'd like to become President, on the other hand, are still on the campaign trail - but they aren't really answering the President speech for speech on job specifics. They're busy swapping spots in the polls, apologizing for not being mean enough for the GOP base, while making sure not to be too mean so that they don't scare away the soccer Moms.

Of the two near-sisyphean tasks facing the Republican Party and President Obama, if we were forced to take one up, we'd actually prefer the economic rock President Obama has to try and push up the metaphorical hill. At least at some point, business leaders will realize they're not going to get a tax-free world. They'll look at the money they're losing by pointlessly fighting the President, and give up their no-win crusade, for a sensible, realistic alternative.

We're not sure if the current Republican Party will ever be able to find a single candidate for President they can all agree on - let alone a candidate that anyone not inside the GOP would be willing to vote for.

Sadly for Republicans, they don't have an unlimited period of time before the 2012 election cycle ramps up - and with Florida throwing a monkey wrench into the 2012 GOP primary calendar, Republicans look like they'll have even less time than they usually do to figure out who they want to pick as their nominee.

To us, the choice of who has the easier task seems fairly obvious.