Obama Concentrates on Economy as Election Nears

(CBS)  President Obama will unveil a new plan to create jobs next week. The White House had promised a recovery summer, but unemployment rose to 9.6 percent last month, and more than six million people have been out of work for half a year or longer.

With the midterm elections approaching, the economy is now front and center. Democrats' chances of holding on to one — or perhaps both — houses of Congress keep sinking as the unemployment rate rises.

And the president is getting a lot of the blame, CBS News Correspondent Bill Plante reports.

"Where are the jobs?" asked Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Ky. "The Obama administration told the American people this would be a recovery summer, but our economy continues to lose jobs."

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President Obama, who's been saying there's no quick fix but that things are getting better, will announce some new proposals to help small business Wednesday in Cleveland.

Obama to Focus on Economy Next Week

"We want to keep this recovery moving stronger and accelerate the job growth that's needed so desperately all across the country," Mr. Obama told reporters in the White House Rose Garden Friday.

The likely proposals - all tax breaks rather than new spending - include:

• Temporary business tax credits for hiring new workers
• Temporary employer tax incentives for jobs in clean energy
• Making permanent the tax credit for research and development.

The administration also plans to roll out additional mortgage help for homeowners.

Report: Obama Considers Tax Cuts to Boost Economy

But realistically, says economist Mark Zandi, none of this is likely to help the president and Democrats when voters go to the polls in two months.

"There isn't a lot that can be done that would make a meaningful difference to the job market, certainly not in the near term, not in the next six to nine months," said Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics.

What's more, the standoff in Congress between Democrats and Republicans continues.

Mr. Obama has lashed out repeatedly at Republicans for opposing his small business tax cuts.

"It's good for small-business people, it's good for our economy, and yet Republicans in the Senate have blocked this bill," Mr. Obama said Friday.

Republicans are also likely to block the extension of the tax cuts expiring this year if the president insists on ending the cuts for incomes of more than $250,000.

"He wants to stop some tax hikes and not others, once again putting the government in the position of picking winners and losers and pitting taxpayer against taxpayer," House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Aug. 24.

The president will spend most of his time in the coming weeks talking about the economy, blaming the Bush administration for inherited deficits and promising that better times are ahead. Republicans are betting it won't work.

[popstom33]

One trick poney

[Hope4change]

Funny How this site deletes posts that actually have merit. Any critical posts that group this network into the Lame Stream media, are to much for the site to bare. Shame because CBS is a Obama sympathizer as well as a cheerleader for his complete mis managing of this economy. CBS, you are the problem. We will win in Nov and 2012. And we will take this nation back to a great status and send Obama packing up his golf clubs, pack of Kools and his family and head back to Bill Ayers house to organize another run at destroying this nation.

[endurorob_5]

He talks about accelerating job growth. What growth? Oh, sure, some new jobs have been added but unfortunatly the job losses far outweigh the gains. He now wants to talk about tax cuts as the repubs have been saying all along and he blew off. Of course he will pick and choose who gets tax cuts, green energy of course because the left likes green and then he wants to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy because he needs to keep his class warfare going.

[thy-one-king]

It's great to see the American people are waking up .......

Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 24% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-seven percent (47%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -23

[kuku22-2009]

Unless Obama drains his entire economic team, there's nothing in the White House worth listening to.
After "recovery summer," who needs more help from these nitwits?
It's time to join the party of no until these guys get a clue.
And remember, any vote for a Democrat in November is another vote for Pelosi. More rubber stamp Pelosi-bot work is not worth another year of the same precipitous destruction of the American economy.

[cleantheDCcesspool]

"It would be one thing, Milwaukee, if Republicans in Washington had some new ideas, if they said . . . 'You know, we've learned from our mistakes. We'll do things differently this time.' But that's not what they're doing," he added.

If this quote from obamao wasn't so sadly ironic, it would be funny. Almost a trillion dollars for roads, bridges, turtle crossings, skate board arenas in the first "stimulus". Now a down payment of $50 billion more for roads, bridges, runways, rails for another "stimulus" and union handout. The first trillion spent and unemployment is up about 25 percent in 18 months.

And the republicans don't learn from mistakes? mmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmm mmmmmmm

[Smokey75]

Just a quick question weren't the Republicans calling for business tax breaks when the now failed porkulous bill was passed. Didn't all the moronic liberals call that trickle down and say it is doesn't work. Didn't all you idiotic Obamabots say back then the only way to revive the economy was through infrastructure investment.

Well where are you liberals now why aren?t you calling Obama out for being the idiot he is. According to you liberals trickle down doesn't work, or is it now that Obama wants to do trickle down it is the right thing to do?

[dadirt]

Too late dummy. All show no go! You stupid supporters eat this up, but they have nothing to loose. You have done all you can over the past 12 months to kill the middle class and then you went on vacation for the remainder of the time. Just talk, just promises, just too damn late, and they are empty anyway. Just like the bucket you have drained all the money out of. Roads and runways? More union jobs, higher cost, more corruption. No effect on the middle class unemployment. Just more payback.

[dadirt]

Too little too late. He has spent his wad, and it has had no effect on normal people. The ecconomy is bad because Obama has not experience and it shows. It tanked when he wran for office and it continues to tank 20 months after he is elected. If we want to improve, he needs to step down. Why does he open his big ears now, when he has had them closed from the beginning. Never about what is good for the country, only what is good for the deomocratic party. That party is anti-capitalism, and pro taxes and bigger government. Government is the problem, not the fix.

[endurorob_5]

Maybe he should have been concentrating on the economy a year and a half ago. But no, he needed to work on his legacy. That was the important thing. Get that idiotic healthcare "reform" passed, that wa the important stuff.