Video: Obama announces a “jobs summit”

posted at 2:00 pm on November 12, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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Perhaps stung by the elections last week, Barack Obama has decided to call a “jobs summit” to address the rising levels of unemployment that his stimulus package has failed to arrest. He tried again to sell the idea that his administration has slowed unemployment, but the numbers tell another tale:

Over the past 10 months, we’ve taken a number of bold steps to break the back of this recession. We’ve worked to stabilize the financial system, revive lending to small businesses and families, and prevent responsible homeowners from losing their homes. And through the Recovery Act, we’ve cut taxes for middle class families, extended and increased unemployment insurance, and created and saved more than a million jobs.

As a result, the economy is now growing again for the first time in more than a year — and faster than at any time in the past two years. But even though we’ve slowed the loss of jobs — and today’s report on the continued decline in unemployment claims is a hopeful sign — the economic growth that we’ve seen has not yet led to the job growth that we desperately need. As I’ve said from the start of this crisis, hiring often takes time to catch up to economic growth. And given the magnitude of the economic turmoil that we’ve experienced, employers are reluctant to hire.

Obama apparently intends to stick to those “saved or created” numbers, even though the media around the country have exposed them as nothing short of fraudulent. And the job losses have not “slowed” at all. The month-on-month increase from September to October of unemployment was the largest since May, and four times as much as the previous month.  Unemployment accelerated instead of slowing, which is why it hit 10.2% — and why Obama has to be seen to be doing something about it.

But what does he propose as a solution to the private-sector slump?  Obama gives no indication of a plan, but the invitees to the summit are revealing:

We all know that there are limits to what government can and should do, even during such difficult times.  But we have an obligation to consider every additional, responsible step that we can [take] to encourage and accelerate job creation in this country.  And that’s why, in December, we’ll be holding a forum at the White House on jobs and economic growth.  We’ll gather CEOs and small business owners, economists and financial experts, as well as representatives from labor unions and nonprofit groups, to talk about how we can work together to create jobs and get this economy moving again.

Labor unions and non-profits?  These are not the engines of job growth.  In  the case of the unions, they are pushing legislation (Card Check, ObamaCare) that would be job-killers.  And it’s not as if Obama never hears from unions now.  Andy Stern, the president of the SEIU, is one of the most frequent visitors to the White House this year, with Stern himself saying he visits on a weekly basis.  Perhaps Obama should hear a little less from unions and nonprofits, and a little more from the people who actually create jobs.

But what would they tell him?  They would tell him that ObamaCare, cap-and-trade, Card Check, and other expansive government programs on his agenda has kept capital on the sidelines.  Obama needs the unions and the nonprofits around to shout them down and provide some class-warfare balance to ignore the realities of the current economy and the disastrous direction of his agenda.

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