All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Updated 1:13 p.m. ET

President Obama vowed to "finish the job" in Afghanistan today, less than 24 hours after his final meeting to determine a new strategy going forward in the war.

At a brief press conference following a meeting with India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, at the White House, Mr. Obama said that "after eight years, some of those years in which we did not have, I think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done, it is my intention to finish the job."

"And I feel very confident that when the American people hear a clear rationale for what we're doing there, and how we intend to achieve our goals, that they will be supportive," he continued.

The president was responding to a question from CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, the only question he took at the appearance.

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House Democrats would like to pass a jobs bill by Dec. 18, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters today.

With unemployment rates surpassing 10 percent, Democrats say they are getting input from economists on the most effective ways to get more people back in the workforce, CBS News Capitol Hill Producer Jill Jackson reports.

Democrats are considering a range of ideas, Hoyer said, including providing aid to states, giving tax credits to employers as an incentive to hire more people and extending unemployment benefits or the federal subsidy of COBRA health insurance benefits.

Hoyer also said highway spending is on the table. The White House is not interested in signing the full extension of the federal highway spending program this year, which could create thousands of jobs but be very costly.

While he "would not characterize [the jobs bill] as a second stimulus," Hoyer said "we will not have the kind of recovery we want" as long as jobless rates remain so high, Jackson reports. Hoyer added that the bill will be very targeted, but he could not say how large the package will be.

The White House announced this evening that an event billed as a "Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth" will be held at the White House on December 3rd.

"The forum will be an opportunity for the President and the economic team to hear from some of the best and brightest CEOs, small business owners, and financial experts about ideas for continuing to grow the economy and put Americans back to work," the White House said in a statement.

"During these difficult economic times, we have a responsibility to consider all good ideas to encourage and accelerate job creation in this country," President Obama said in the statement. "At the forum next month, I am looking forward to hearing from the private sector, from CEOs and small business owners and from Americans struggling to make ends meet on how we can work together to create jobs and get this economy moving again."

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Calling the nation's high jobless rates "a challenge my administration is absolutely determined to meet," President Obama announced Thursday he will hold a jobs summit at the White House in December.

"We all know that there are limits to what government can and should do," Mr. Obama said. "But we have an obligation to consider every additional responsible step that we can to encourage and accelerate job creation in this country."

The president announced the summit, to be called the Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth, moments before departing for a trip to Asia. Mr. Obama said he will work on a global economic strategy while abroad and will continue to make the nation's economic recovery the focus of his administration.

The U.S. unemployment rate for October surpassed 10 percent, hitting the double digits for the first time since 1983. Claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, but economists still predict a "jobless recovery" from the recession.

Acknowledging the hardship Americans are undergoing, the president said "even though we've slowed the loss of jobs... the economic growth that we've seen has not yet led to the job growth that we desperately need."

To address that, Mr. Obama said, the December forum will bring together CEOs, small business owners, economists, labor unions and nonprofit organizations to discuss job creation.

"It's important we don't make any ill-considered decisions... particularly at a time when our resources are so limited," he said. "But it's just as important that we are open to any demonstrably good idea to supplement the steps we've already taken to put America back to work."

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With unemployment now above 10 percent, Senate Democrats are planning to craft a new jobs bill next year, according to a report in The Hill.

Majority Leader Harry Reid said at the Senate Democrats' weekly lunch Tuesday that he is now exploring a job-creation initiative, Sen. Ben Cardin told the newspaper. Cardin said "our caucus will take it up."

What will be in the bill – or when it might be introduced – is not yet known. Sen. Patty Murray , D-Wash., told the Hill that no final decision about legislation has yet been made.

Reid, whose approval rating at home stands at just 32 percent, is among the vulnerable Democrats going into the 2010 midterm election season. The weak economy is working against him, as is the fact that the president's party traditionally loses Congressional seats in midterms. In Nevada, the unemployment rate is 13.5 percent.

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New government figures show the economy grew 3.5% this summer, the first increase in a year and a sign that the recession is at an end. But there are other signs that this may be a jobless recovery.

The Obama administration is saying its economic stimulus and recovery packages have saved close to a million jobs. But the creation of new jobs has lagged.

"The great American job creation machine simply hasn't been generating enough jobs to absorb or offset what was really the greatest, deepest recession since the Great Depression," said Jared Bernstein, chief economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden.

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Obama administration "green jobs czar" Van Jones has apologized for calling Republicans "a**holes."

Jones made the comment in February, before he became a member of the administration, Glenn Thrush reports.

Asked at a Berkeley, Calif., forum why Republicans in Congress are blocking Obama administration efforts, Jones replied, "the answer to that is they're a**holes," prompting laughter and applause from the crowd.

Jones added: "…and Barack Obama's not an a**hole. I can be an a**hole. And some of us who are not Barack Hussein Obama are going to have to start getting a little bit uppity." (Watch the video.)

Jones apologized for the comment yesterday.

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President Obama on Friday lauded new jobs numbers showing a slight decrease in the unemployment rate as the latest sign that "that the worst may be behind us."

"Though we lost 247,000 jobs in July, that was nearly 200,000 fewer jobs lost than in June, and far fewer than the nearly 700,000 jobs a month that we were losing at the beginning of the year," he said in the White House Rose Garden.

"Today, we're pointed in the right direction," the president continued. "We're losing jobs at less than half the rate we were when I took office."

He went on to trumpet his administration's efforts to help the financial system, reduce home foreclosures, improve the flow of credit, rescue the economy from "catastrophe," and "build a new foundation for growth."

The president then shifted into a defense of the stimulus package, about which he said "there's a lot of misinformation." He said the package has meant tax relief for families and small businesses, expanded unemployment benefits and cheaper health insurance for families looking for work.

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A new White House economic report emphasizes the need for "worker flexibility" in a changing labor market.

While the study cites the historic resilience of the U.S. economy, it warns "the growth path may not look the same as that envisioned before the recession."

The study indicates the best job prospects are in "the already-expanding health care sector" and environmental occupations. It says those fields are growing at a faster rate than the overall economy, creating white collar and blue collar openings.

Not surprisingly, the administration's report pins hopes for economic gains on the $787 billion stimulus package. It continues to project saving or creating 3.5 million jobs by the fourth quarter of next year. It says near term recovery could be helped by "pent-up" demand by consumers.

The report forecasts moderation in the decades-long decline in manufacturing jobs. It predicts job creation in the aerospace and pharmaceutical industries. It says the construction industry will "eventually recover" and add more jobs in the coming decade.

White House economists say occupations that hire workers with post-secondary education and training are growing faster than other fields. The report by the Council of Economic Advisers also points to "an expected shift towards jobs that require workers with greater analytical and interactive skills." The report calls for "a comprehensive strategy" to create strong, effective education and training programs.

The full report can be found here.

A senior Obama administration economic advisor tells CBS News the latest unemployment numbers show that "the job market remains in the grips of a tough recession."

Jared Bernstein, chief economist for Vice President Biden, says the administration still expects unemployment to hit ten percent some time later this year. But he sees some glimmers of hope. In a radio interview with CBS News White House Correspondent Peter Maer, Bernstein said that aside from the big factory losses, the job reduction rate throughout the economy has "diminished somewhat over the past three months." But he acknowledged it is nowhere near satisfactory.

He contends administration economic stimulus efforts "are taking hold and helping to stabilize." But noting that stabilization won't be enough, Bernstein said, "We need to see that unemployment rate come down."

He refused to say when that would happen. Bernstein continues to predict the Recovery Act will add 3.5 million jobs to the economy next year. While he points to some signs of improvement, he notes "less bad is not good enough."

Asked about some economists’ predictions of a "jobless recovery," Bernstein said there could be a technical recovery in growth terms while the labor market continues to shrink. Bernstein said that would not be a true recovery.

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Peter Maer is a CBS News White House correspondent. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here.