The Incredible Pivoting President

Now that President Obama has completed his lead role in Phony Debt Ceiling Crisis Theater and helped tear the first gaping hole in the social safety net at the bidding of his oligarchic masters, it's time for him to pretend to care about "The American People" again.  With a straight face and nary a peep from the corporate media -- just days after neglecting to extend longterm unemployment benefits and the payroll tax holiday* -- he is performing his umpteenth Pivot to Jobs!  He will be touring middle America in a big bus, Palin-style.  The folksy talking points and hypnotic repetitive slogans are already being crafted inside the busy little heads of his campaign operatives. (He's already borrowing the "It Gets Better" phrase from his anti-bullying initiative). He'll be spinning faster than an Olympian figure skater vying for the gold medal.

(If you Google the words "Obama, Pivot, Jobs" you will get over 17,000 hits for news articles and blogs containing the so-original pivoting meme).

Despite Thursday's panicky Wall Street sell-off, the Labor Department numbers out today were slightly less horrendous than originally feared. Obama managed to magically transform the news into prosperity that is just around the corner.  But not so fast -- even with the edition of 117,000 private sector jobs, the situation is not only stagnant, it's getting worse. According to economist Dean Baker:

This rate of job growth is below the 90,000 a month needed to keep pace with the growth of the labor force. Consistent with this fact, the employment-to-population ratio (EPOP) fell slightly to 58.1 percent, tying its previous low for the downturn. While the unemployment rate edged down to 9.1 percent, this was entirely attributable to people leaving the labor force.

Obama is very cleverly pivoting speechifying on creating jobs for returning veterans -- not only  because the images of their homeless numbers starving under bridges evoke our national outrage, but also because the planned drawdown of troops from Afghanistan will only lead to even more homeless vets and more bad numbers unless he acts. Besides, if we were even thinking about complaining he is doing nada for civilians, he can thus accuse us of being ideological purists who do not Support The Troops!

Of course, in keeping with his Hooveresque stance that the government itself can do nothing to create jobs, his pivotal plan will involve giving businesses those all-important tax breaks for hiring vets.  So if you were dreaming of a new WPA or CCC or any shovel-ready infrastructure projects instead, then you were smoking something.

Also, the president doesn't want to have to look out the window and see this:



Bonus Army 1932.... Hooverville Central

 Or this:



Homeless Man Arrested After Jumping White House Fence

 Actually, Obama possibly did see this.  James Crudup, 41, made it all the way to the presidential front yard Tuesday night before being nabbed by the ever-ready Secret Service.  The White House was immediately put on lock-down.  Obama was uninjured. I can't say the same for the millions of unemployed or underemployed people wondering how they're going to pay the bills this month. 

* Update: Marie Burns of RealityChex.com via Paul Krugman: The president didn't extend the payroll tax because the Republicans wouldn't agree to it in debt ceiling negotiations.  "This is a stunning fact that every American should know, but they don't. Because Democrats -- including the DINO president -- won't tell them," writes Burns.