Obama’s Christmas Present: Jobs

A Christmas present for Barack Obama: The unemployment rate is down and has fallen to a two-and-a-half-year low! According to the figures, published this morning, the rate is currently 8.6 percent.

Little by little, things are getting better for the outgoing president. The proof: The Republicans have ceased with their systematic obstructions.

It must be mentioned that they were somewhat trapped by the Democrats’ tactic. In September, the president presented his “Jobs Act,” a plan to boost employment. The Republicans voted against it. The president carved his plan into smaller measures: for teachers, for police officers and firefighters, for youth, for returning soldiers. … And each week, he campaigned on one of these topics around the country.

The Republicans may have opposed the teachers and the firefighters, but they couldn’t vote against veterans: The measure that encourages employers to recruit veterans was passed.

The final component of the “trap”: the renewal of a payroll tax cut, or “payroll tax holiday.” If the Republicans don’t vote for it, it will lead to higher payroll taxes (and a net loss of about $1,000 per family). Yet, the Republicans are against tax hikes. Damned …

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has taken charge of the situation. He announced that rather than allowing his Party to be painted as the Party that fought against taxes for millionaires but didn’t fight against taxes for the middle class, the Party would vote Yes on Obama’s measure.

The way the payroll tax holiday will be financed remains to be negotiated, and it’s not a small affair. But little by little, Obama is starting to make the Republicans bend.

As Christmas approaches, he is trying to render them unpopular. If they don’t renew unemployment insurance (another battle in sight before the end of the year), they will be acting like “Grinches,” Dr. Seuss’ nasty hero (not to be confused with Gingrich).

During a meeting in Pennsylvania, the president invited his compatriots to send a message to Congress: “’Don’t be a Grinch.’ Don’t vote to raise taxes on working Americans during the holidays. Make sure to renew unemployment insurance during the holidays.”