Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Obama Jobs Speech - Will it Work? - or more precisely, will the American Jobs Act put Americans back to work? The President gave a strong speech in front of the joint session of congress, urging a second stimulus of 450 Billion to help put Americans back to work.

Efforts were made by Obama in the speech to appeal to Republicans with calls for reforms to Medicare, less regulations on business and employee and employer payroll tax cuts.

Democrats were pleased to see the call for renewed infrastructure building, the construction of new schools and the extension of unemployment benefits for the long term unemployed.

Also included was funding to aid state and local government, especially in areas of law enforcement.

The creation of a public/private bank to spur lending to assist new businesses was something both political parties could support.

The strategy by the president was clear from the beginning of his speech and that was Americans were tired of the political bickering and now was the time for Congress to come together for the good of the country.

The devil is always in the details and how the 450 Billion program will be paid the big question (I was going to say the elephant in the room - but decided it was a bad pun).

Obama indicated he would ask the deficit commission already tasked with cutting 1.5 Trillion by Thanksgiving with coming up with another 450 Billion to pay for the American Jobs Act. In addition, Obama indicated he would release details of a much more ambitious deficit reduction plan on September 19.

Having the wealthy pay more taxes was another familiar refrain echoed by the president in his speech last night.

His speech stopped short of what I have been calling for over the last two years and that is a federally funded public service employment program that would put the unemployed to work immediately in areas which have been hurt the hardest during the recession; non-profits and state and local government.

Look to see some version of what has been proposed passed by Congress, but after considerable wrangling over the cost.

The expected reaction from Republicans will be what was proposed by the President was more of the same failed policies.

Stay tuned...

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Economists Caution Obama Jobs Plan Won't Guarantee a Quick Fix - Lot's of variables to consider such as the European financial market and oil prices. The proposed payroll tax cut would put an estimated 1,500 in the pocket of American workers over the next year. The hope being the extra $125 each month would be spent, therefore stimulating the economy. Politico.com has more here.

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Terrorist Threat Could Involve Car Bomb - Vice President Joe Biden on ABC "Good Morning America" this morning said the intelligence chatter included the use of a car bomb. The unconfirmed threat comes as the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks nears. TheHill.com has more here.

The White House has issued a statement that President Obama will continue with his plans to stop at Ground Zero, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

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DCCC Jumps In To Aid Weprin - in the special election to be held next Tuesday to replace Anthony Weiner who resigned after his embarrassing Twitter scandal. They have bought $500,000 in television ads to help boost Democrat David Weprin who is facing a close contest with Republican Bob Turner. RollCall.com has more here.

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Haley Barbour To Help American Crossroads Raise Funds - the Mississippi Governor is joining hands with Karl Rove to help raise funds for American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, tow groups unlimited in fund raising. The groups are expected to raise in excess of 120 million for the 2012 elections. TPM.com has more here.

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Edwards Campaign Funds Trial Delayed - the former Democratic Presidential candidate defense lawyers successfully argued for more time to review the thousands of documents relating to the charges John Edwards misused campaign funds, in part, to hide the pregnancy of his mistress Rielle Hunter during his 2008 run. The trial will take place in January. The Washington Post has more here.

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Where is Gaddafi? - the hunt continues for the former leader of Libya as many Gaddafi loyalists flee to neighboring Niger. the National Transition Council has given the city of Bani Walid a deadline of tomorrow before they will attack. Reuters.com has more here.

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