Obama requested to speak before a joint session of Congress at September 7th at eight p.m. for the unveiling of his latest jobs plan. “Coincidentally” the time he requested collides with a scheduled debate between the Republican presidential candidates sponsored by NBC, Politico, and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.
Mr. President, if your jobs plan is so vitally necessary for the wellbeing of the economy, why wait until congress is back so that a joint session in congress can be arranged? Why not come out today and present your plan? Surely it must be complete after all the time you and your team spent preparing for this major presentation. If it’s bipartisanship that you truly seek, why don’t you present your plan today so that both sides will have a complete week to review and discuss it? This way you will also have the opportunity to at least partially fulfill the promise you’ve made to the public during the 2008 campaign; that every bill will be available online five days before congress votes so that everyone will be able to see what is in it.
Thankfully, Boehner had the courage to politely turn down the president’s request, reminding the president that congress wasn’t scheduled to be back in session until the 7th of September with voting starting at 6:30 pm. Since both, a vote in both houses plus a three hour security sweep is required to take place before a joint session could take place, the timing Obama has chosen simply could not work. Boehner ended with an invitation to Obama to join the congress anytime the following day – on the eighth.
Obama acquiesced to Boehner’s proposal and Obama announced that he’ll be presenting his jobs plan next Thursday from 7 pm until 8 pm so that his speech won’t conflict with the NFL openings. Is it a campaign speech or circus at which the larger the audience the merrier, or is it a serious jobs plan which should be put into effect asap? If it is so urgent, why wait until the following night? Why not do it first thing in the morning?
Obama's speech will have to begin punctually or else he won’t be able to keep his audience captive for a complete hour due to the NFL pregame which begin at 8:00. Since I can’t imagine him being willing to give up a single moment of the teleprompters and cameras combination, this might be remembered as the record-breaking speech at which Obama actually began his speech at the time officially scheduled!
Although not much is known about Obama’s plans, some basics have been released including extending unemployment benefits and focusing on infrastructure.
I can’t speak for others but hey, I’m perfectly fine waiting another week and even another year to hear what he proposes, since I doubt he’ll do anything to really free up the private sector and allow the economy to grow. In fact, I have this creepy feeling that his plan involves more of the same; expansion of government, payback to cronies, and promotions of liberal ideology.
For instance, we probably won’t be forced to once again listen to the great potentials in bringing the Gitmo prisoners to Michigan in an attempt to boost their collapsed economy. Obama attempted killing two birds with one stone; he wished to pacify the left demanding the closure of Gitmo and at the same time create employment for the people of Michigan as prison wardens and other related work in the up keeping of the new location. As expected, the stone didn’t hit its intended targets and Gitmo remains in Gitmo.
On the other hand, Obama’s advocacy for “green jobs” might be repeated, though with care to its past failures.
At the Jobs Programs Speech which was held in Solyndra, a San Francisco based solar panel company, Obama waxed about the potential of green jobs. Why, the company even received a $535 million loan guarantee for “leading the way” and the future hiring of 4,000 additional employees. Well, guess what? They just shut their doors for good! Wait — there’s more!
Here’s the report from Big Government:
Just a few months ago, ABC News revealed that one of the major financial backers for Solyndra is also a major donor to the Obama campaign.
The donor, Steve Westley, has subsequently been named to the President’s Energy Advisory Board. Solyndra was supposed to have produced 4,000 jobs with the loan guarantee. Now all of the company’s employees have been laid-off. Mr. Westley is still on the advisory board.
Congressman Cliff Stearns, Chair of House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight Subcomittee, released the following statement this afternoon:
“In an apparent rush to push stimulus dollars out the door, the Obama Administration wasted $535 million in taxpayer funds in guaranteeing a loan to a firm that has proven to be unviable in the global market,” said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. “For months, we have been investigating how and why nearly half a billion dollars in taxpayer money was committed to this financially troubled company.”
According to The Center for Public Integrity, one of Solyndra’s major investors was George Kaiser, an Oklahoma oil billionaire who raised large sums of money for Obama during the 2008 election. This raised concerns that politics may have played a role in putting taxpayer dollars at risk in making this loan guarantee. In addition, last year the Government Accountability Office issued an unusually blunt assessment of the Energy Department’s loan program, concluding that the department had “treated applicants inconsistently, favoring some and disadvantaging others.”
Using stimulus funds to promote job creation, the Department of Energy awarded a $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra and the Obama Administration was supposed to review the loan to ensure that taxpayer money was not put at risk. Stearns has been investigating this loan program, and specifically the loan to Solyndra, and was forced to subpoena the Administration for records involving this loan guarantee.
“Although the Administration has been uncooperative with this investigation, this decision by Solyndra does not end our inquiry and we will continue to look into how this loan guarantee was approved and why the American taxpayers are mostly likely out $535 million,” added Stearns. “In addition, this brings up concerns if taxpayers were adequately protected during the restructuring of the loan to Solyndra.”
Surprised anyone?
One second thought, since no one’s actually forcing me to yawn through the jobs speech, I think I might just skip it.
This article is cross-posted at Conservatives4Palin.
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