This isn’t going to help the White House spin effort:
President Barack Obama says creating jobs isn’t the goal of a coming White House forum on jobs and economic growth.
Yes, “job creation” is a touchy subject since the stimulus plan’s numbers went kaplooey. And it’s clear whose fault that is. As Rick Klein of ABC remarks: “The administration asked for this — dare we say, literally asked for this — with promises of actual job totals and new accountability and oversight mechanisms, all with Sheriff Joe Biden at the helm.” Indeed they did.
So what about the non-job-creating job summit? They want to find out “how to encourage hiring by businesses still reluctant to do so.” That’s a tough one. Hmm. Maybe not raise taxes on employers but cut them? Perhaps not slap new health-care mandates on businesses? One thing is for certain: the Obami need help with this problem. Plainly they are stumped when it comes to job growth.
“…that the U.S. has marginalized al Qaeda over the past six years.”
We should be wary of becoming too complacent. Al Quaeda is only part of the Islamic militant movement. There are still millions of other who are dedicated to our destruction. The situation in Pakistan, for instance, may very well spiral out of control in 2008.