It's still about the jobs

Almost every issue on President Obama's agenda is looking awfully grim, from the new strategy for Afghanistan, to healthcare reform to the poor reviews his trip to Asia drew, to the upcoming meeting in Copenhagen with prospects for cap-and-trade legislation in the Senate dead. But on the most important issue of jobs, Obama is suddenly taking the worst pounding of all.

How will he respond to charges from right, middle and now the left, that he is sleeping while the country goes up in flames? There are calls from liberals to dump Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Arianna Huffington is out with her own charge that unemployment could be Obama's Hurricane Katrina and in her post she includes refers to a piece in The Hill reporting that Democratic leaders in the House, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are "worried they've appeared unresponsive to rising unemployment because they were too absorbed by health care."

In addition, Democratic Reps. Peter DeFazio of Oregon and Ed Perlmutter of Colorado are now proposing a tax on Wall Street to help create jobs that would target the sale of derivatives and other financial instruments. The bill, according to the story in The Hill, is titled "Let Wall Street Pay for the Restoration of Main Street Act of 2009."

Populist anger is now coming from every direction, and President Obama needs to react to bipartisan outrage over unemployment that is at nearly 20 percent in real terms when the underemployed are included. Liberals want more stimulus, conservatives want tax relief. No one wants more deficit spending.

No matter what happens with a war we can't afford, healthcare reform that isn't likely to cut the deficit after all, and the likelihood that far-reaching energy reform gets sidelined, Americans will care most about jobs and the state of the economy from now until it improves. This will stretch through the midterm elections next year in 2010, through 2012 when Obama would likely run for reelection and beyond if things don't start to pick up. He must do something because the rage is growing and even Democrats can't defend him anymore.

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