Barack Obama tried pushing back last week after an awful jobs report — by blaming Republicans for not doing enough to protect public-sector jobs:

“These are teachers and cops and firefighters,” he said. “Congress should pass a bill putting them back to work right now, giving help to the states so that those layoffs are not occurring.”

On the official White House schedule, this briefing was billed as Obama “delivering remarks urging Congress to act on the ‘To Do List.'”

IBD Editorials noted, though, that the “To Do list” has nothing to do with addressing state or local jobs:

The only things on that list are tax incentives for companies to create jobs at home; help for underwater homeowners who want to refinance; some targeted small business tax credits; more money wasted on “green” energy; and a silly new “Veterans Jobs Corps.”

Not that it matters, since Democrats have entirely ignored Obama’s picayune To Do List anyway.

There may be a reason why that issue isn’t on Obama’s “To Do List.” It already appears on his Already-Done List, as IBD points out:

However, on that same White House web page, Obama lists all his amazing job creation accomplishments, with little green check marks to show they’ve been done. Things like “Rescue the auto industry” and “Sign 18 tax cuts to help small businesses.”

And right there on that list are these: “Keep 400,000 teachers in the classroom” and “Keep police officers, firefighters and other first responders on the job.”

So, help us out here. If Obama’s already saved these jobs, why is he saying state and local governments are cutting them and putting the economy at risk?

Because Obama’s stimulus package only kicked the underlying issues of the size and costs of state and local governments down the road temporarily.  He didn’t “save” those jobs at all — he just “rented” them.  And now he wants more money from Congress to temporarily rent them again, and keep the states and localities from making the long term budgeting decisions that are now three years past due.

Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at [email protected] with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.

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