The "PDQ Presidency" began on Nov. 5, 2008. In Obama's eyes, Alter writes, that was "another workday — or, more precisely, the first day of his presidency." Alter acknowledges that Obama could not "sign bills or issue executive orders. He and his family couldn't sleep in the White House. Having resigned from the Senate, he was technically a private citizen — a man with no constitutional authority. But these were formalities. For the first time in modern American history, an incoming president made some of the most important decisions of his term."
I think most Americans can sympathize with the task Obama faced — and the sense of urgency he felt to take on everything.
"But the breakneck pace carried a price. Many so–called shovel–ready construction projects often weren't actually ready to go. Had Obama taken a bit more time, he might have been able to think harder about job creation, which has become the big economic challenge of late 2009. During the transition, Obama officials failed to persuade congressional Democrats to offer tax credits to employers for each new person they hired. And his economists rejected WPA–style government hiring programs out of hand. So when unemployment later approached double digits, they were caught without a backup plan."
Jonathan Alter
Maybe Alter is right. Maybe the tax credit plan got the kibosh from congressional Democrats, not Obama. But it's a promise Obama made when he was running for president. And PolitiFact.com classifies it as a broken promise, whether Obama or congressional Democrats were responsible for breaking it.
That's a distinction, frankly, that is lost on long–term job seekers.
It's extremely frustrating, as Anthony Balderrama writes for CareerBuilder.com, when job seekers don't hear back from employers.
It's understandable, of course, that, with so many people looking for work, hiring managers easily can be overwhelmed by applications. I sympathize with their situation.
But how are job seekers supposed to react to the sense of rejection that comes with this scenario? Especially now that so many unemployed people are losing their jobless benefits. The lifelines that keep them and their families going. I've heard that 7,000 Americans are losing these benefits each day.
I have to wonder about the logic — not to mention the sanity — of a culture that cares so much about health care but not, apparently, about whether people can pay for it.
I have often asked others a simple question for which no one has been able to provide a satisfactory answer — if I am in the position of having to choose whether to pay for my rent or my health insurance, which one do you think I will choose?
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