Obama Must Get Going on Jobs by Jim Hightower

[Better Believe It]

Obama Must Get Going on Jobs
By Jim Hightower

Five days before taking the oath of office, Barack Obama called on the millions of people who had actively campaigned for him to be the engine for real change in America: "I don't want them to just sit around and wait for me to do something. I want them to be pushing their agendas."

He asked for it, so let's shove this agenda into his line of vision: jobs. Middle-class jobs. Jobs with a future. Jobs doing useful work that contributes to American progress and the common good. Lots and lots of those jobs.

Obama has talked often about the need for more jobs. But he's put little presidential heft into creating them, instead focusing most on extending unemployment benefits to assuage some of the pain of being jobless.

Meanwhile, the nation's official unemployment rate is soaring to 10 percent and beyond. That's not a statistic — it's 15 million struggling people. Plus their families. Their numbers nearly double when we add in part-time workers who need and want full-time jobs, as well as other underemployed and discouraged workers.

FDR, when he faced deep and spreading national insecurity, made jobs first — not last. And so should Obama. America has plenty of work that needs doing, work that would strengthen our country for the long haul. It's time for him to launch a long-term, nationwide revitalization effort to rebuild and expand our essential infrastructure (from bridges to water systems) and also to create the framework for a green economy — everything from rapid expansion of renewable energy systems to building high-speed networks that link our population corridors.

Please read the complete article at:

http://www.creators.com/opinion/jim-hightower/-obama-must-get-going-on-jobs.html

[greendog]

1. k&r

[DJ13]

2. Who would unrec a post wanting more jobs?

Are you people fucking nuts?

[Better Believe It]

3. Hightower is an acknowledged liberal, not a conservative Democrat

Isn't that reason enough?

[DJ13]

4. Reason enough to like him, yes

That and he's a distant relative of my wife.