Obama fields bold questions as he hits the road in jobs crusade
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Armed with some good economic news, President Obama took his campaign for more jobs to Pennsylvania today, but ran into some questions that were more than he bargained for.
Speaking at Lehigh Carbon Community College in Schnecksville, Pa., Obama made the usual points: that his administration has worked hard to unfreeze credit and to stimulate the staggering economy that it had inherited, and that it is focused on how to create new jobs.
Obama then threw the floor open to questions and suggestions. One student asked the president if he had ever considered a program of legalizing drugs, prostitution and other so-called victimless crimes as a way of improving the economy.
“I appreciate the boldness of your question,” Obama said after the laughter stopped. ‘But that will not be my jobs strategy.” He went on to praise the questioner “for doing what a student should do... think in new and different ways.”
Obama then made his pitch for green jobs as a way of creating new work. The president said he would outline an economic and jobs program when he addresses the nation next week.
The point of today’s visit to Pennsylvania a day after the White House jobs summit was to highlight job creation efforts. Obama was armed with the latest unemployment figures that show the U.S. unemployment rate dropped from 10.2% to 10 % in November.
“Today, the Labor Department released its monthly employment survey and reported that the nation lost 11,000 jobs in November -- about 115,000 fewer than was forecast,” Obama said.
“The unemployment rate ticked down instead of up. And the report also found that we lost about 160,000 fewer jobs over the last two months than we had previously thought. It’s the best jobs report we’ve seen since 2007.
“This is good news, just in time for the season of hope. But I want to keep this in perspective. We still have a long way to go. I still consider one job lost one job too many. And as I said yesterday at a jobs conference in Washington, good trends don’t pay the rent. We need to grow jobs and get America back to work as quickly as we can.”
But it was also an opportunity for Obama to get personal, a style he exhibited throughout the campaign and one to which he reverts when gets beyond the Beltway. When one questioner asked about a problem he was having with the Veterans Administration, Obama was quick to reassure him.
“You went straight to the top,” Obama said. “I suspect somebody will be calling you on your cellphone in about two seconds.’
-- Michael Muskal
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