XPost: dc.urban-planning, wa.politics   
   From: impeach_obama@yahoo.com   
      
   If President Obama does not reauthorize his job council this   
   week, the move will likely spark criticism from Republicans and   
   could disquiet some Democrats.   
   Obama has a lot on his legislative wish list, and Democrats on   
   Capitol Hill do not want the White House to get distracted from   
   the top issue on voters’ minds: jobs and the economy.   
      
   The Jobs Council has met in full only four times in its two-year   
   existence, according to its own website, though it also held 18   
   “listening and action sessions” around the nation. Obama last   
   year praised it as “a work council” rather than “a show council”   
   and said that the White House had taken action on 33 of the 35   
   executive actions that the council had recommended.   
      
   But doubt now hangs over the question of whether the council’s   
   original charter will be extended beyond its two-year term, with   
   a White House aide telling The Hill that it “was only intended”   
   to last that long.   
      
   The executive order that created the council states, “The [jobs   
   council] shall meet regularly” and it “shall terminate 2 years   
   after the date of this order unless extended by the president.”   
      
   Last summer, White House press secretary Jay Carney was asked   
   why the council had not met for several months.   
      
   “There’s no specific reason, except the president has obviously   
   got a lot on his plate. But he continues to solicit and receive   
   advice from numerous folks outside the administration about the   
   economy, about ideas that he can act on with Congress or   
   administratively to help the economy grow and help create jobs,”   
   Carney said.   
      
   Among the council’s recommendations were to reduce government   
   regulations. But in his second term, Obama is expected to pursue   
   a slew of mandates via regulations, most notably on climate   
   change.   
      
   The council’s winding-down could be seen as emblematic of a   
   shift in emphasis by the administration. While Obama fought his   
   reelection campaign primarily on “kitchen table” issues and a   
   promise to strengthen the middle class, he has turned   
   increasingly toward traditional progressive goals such as gun   
   control, environmental protection and immigration reform in   
   recent weeks.   
      
   This, in turn, fuels concerns among some Democrats that the   
   White House risks looking as if it has taken its eye off the   
   economic ball in order to pursue more glittering liberal prizes.   
      
   “I think that in second terms there is a temptation to do as   
   much as you possibly can because there’s a realization that this   
   is it,” said one Democratic strategist. “But I think there’s a   
   cautionary tale there because it has caused previous   
   administrations to lose focus.”   
      
   Republican strategist Ken Lundberg argued that if Obama fails to   
   “keep the panel alive,” it would suggest “he’s not focused on   
   the economy.”   
      
   Lundberg added: “How does the president dissolve his jobs panel   
   when 12.2 million Americans are still looking for work? If the   
   economy softens further, the president is going to have a hard   
   time getting Congress to focus on anything else but jobs, and   
   that means his agenda for gun control, climate change and   
   immigration will have to wait.”   
      
   Some see Obama’s new emphasis on other issues as emanating from   
   a desire to cater to the liberal activists whose support was so   
   central to his winning a second term as president.   
      
   “These loyal Democrats such as environmentalists, people   
   concerned about gun crimes, women, and those seeking liberalized   
   immigration are getting the major part of the president’s   
   attention and a substantial amount of his political energy,”   
   said Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers   
   University.   
      
   Obama has, in a sense, been here before.   
      
   In 2009 and early 2010, he pressed on with the battle for   
   healthcare reform, even as the nation’s economy was ailing   
   badly. Ultimately he succeeded, achieving the kind of expansion   
   of healthcare coverage that Democrats had hankered after for a   
   generation or more. But the fight used up valuable political   
   capital, was highly contentious and is seen as having driven up   
   Democratic losses in the 2010 midterm elections.   
      
   In 2011, congressional Democrats expressed frustration with   
   Obama’s focus on cutting the deficit. A year later, they were   
   pleased as the president’s election-year message homed in on   
   jobs.   
      
   Now, some Democrats fear a repetition of that pattern.   
      
   “Both sides aren’t focusing in on what’s the most important   
   issue right now,” the Democratic strategist said. “I think there   
   will be a race to see who can grab onto the message focused on   
   the economy. I think that’s going to be what determines who’s in   
   control of the Senate and how well Democrats do at eating away   
   at the Republican majority in the House.”   
      
   Independent experts feel that the kind of progressive goals for   
   which Obama is aiming could be very hard to accomplish.   
      
   “With divided government, the president runs a risk of becoming   
   an early lame duck if he can’t push at least some of his new   
   proposals through Congress,” said Kyle Kondik, a political   
   analyst at the University of Virginia.   
      
   “They are issues fraught with peril,” he added. “An assault   
   weapons ban seems unlikely, though perhaps not universal   
   background checks for guns. And what, exactly, will the   
   president try to do about climate change? Republicans also have   
   no incentive to help him succeed, fairly or unfairly.”   
      
   To be fair to Obama, it is hardly as if he is ignoring the   
   economy. In his second inaugural address earlier this month, he   
   reiterated, albeit in broad terms, his concern for the middle   
   class.   
      
   “We, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when   
   a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.   
   We believe that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad   
   shoulders of a rising middle class,” he said.   
      
   More specifically, a clear administration priority for Obama’s   
   second term is bedding down the Dodd-Frank financial reforms in   
   the hope that the kind of corporate recklessness that fueled the   
   Great Recession can be averted in the future. Last week he   
   nominated erstwhile prosecutor Mary Jo White to lead the   
   Securities and Exchange Commission. If confirmed, she will have   
   a key role in putting meat on Dodd-Frank’s bones.   
      
   Some observers argue that the economy is now on a solid road to   
   recovery, however. In their view, Obama needs to make the most   
   use of the time he has left at the center of power — and that   
   might mean moving on to other things.   
      
   http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/279487-obama-faces-   
   major-dilemma-on-expiring-jobs-council   
      
   --   
   Are you obligated as an armed civilian, to defend unarmed   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)