The Crisis of Unemployment: "Democrats need to remake themselves as the party of jobs"

[Better Believe It]

The Crisis of Unemployment
Double-Digit Unemployment Is Obama's No. 1 Challenge
by John Nichols
November 6, 2009

For the first time in more than a quarter century, unemployment in the United States has reached double digits.

And that's bad political news for President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress, who continue to make the mistake of treating unemployment as an afterthought rather than the most serious issue facing the nation.

Now that the United States has an official double-digit unemployment rate, the Obama administration and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate need to adjust approaches in order to make job creation their primary focus.

This does not mean that the president and his congressional allies should abandon the push for health care reform. Obama is right that, in the long term, health care reform is essential to economic progress; America cannot continue to steer more and more of its GDP into the accounts of profiteering insurance companies and expect to experience meaningful growth in employment or prosperity.

But a singular or even dominant focus on health care -- or any project other than job creation and retention -- is now politically dangerous.

For economic, social and politic reasons, Democrats need to remake themselves as the party of jobs. If this requires a new stimulus plan with more money for job-creating infrastructure and development programs, Democrats cannot afford to be cautious. If this requires a radical alteration in trade policies and the abandonment of the absurd strategy for bailing out GM and Chrysler -- which calls for shuttering more than two dozen plants across the United States – Democrats cannot afford to hesitate.

High unemployment will remake the electoral landscape into an "Alice-in-Wonderland" fantasyland. Republicans who (assisted by some notable Democratic allies) laid the foundations of the current crisis -- with misguided tax breaks for the rich, warped spending priorities and fundamentally-flaws trade policies -- will be able to position themselves as pro-jobs populists. And Democrats will be stuck defending an indefensible status quo. That's a guaranteed loser for Obama and his congressional allies, who will see their House and Senate majorities slashed if not obliterated by an understandably angry electorate.

Please read the complete article at:

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/493371/double_digit_unemployment_is_obama_s_no_1_challenge

[Hello_Kitty]

1. Sadly, too many prominent Dems have swallowed the supply side koolaid

One of the articles of faith of that doctrine is that a certain level of unemployment is a good thing because of "wage inflation" or some such nonsense.

[OHdem10]

2. Better talk to those Blue Dogs(Pro-Business Democrats.) and

the Centrist(Wall Street Adorers).

[GoCubsGo]

3. Remake??

I thought they were the party of jobs all along. I guess some of them have forgotten that.

[butterfly77]

4. They are too damn worried about,,

what the teabaggers and he republicons will think..We need some new people who are fighters and some real men who will get in these asshole republicons'faces..