Obama Has His Back to the Wall

Barack Obama will deliver an address to Congress, which is supposed to prove to Americans that he is the right man for the next four years in the White House. This will not happen until Thursday, but there has already been a false start.

The last weeks and months were painful for the U.S. and its president. The data from Friday showed that no jobs were created in August and the unemployment rate continues at 9.1 percent — an unusually high level for the U.S. If the economy continues to expand at the same rate as in the first half of the year, by the end of 2011 its growth will be less than 1 percent. Formally, that is in accordance with economists’ definitions; it is not recession yet. In practice, however, it is. (The U.S. population increases at a similar rate.)

In early August, the world observed with amazement the debt limit row in Washington. The Department of the Treasury warned that if Congress did not raise the debt limit by August 3, there would be no money for current expenses. Americans were especially amazed because in the hottest moment of the debate between Republicans and Democrats, the president decided not to take part in the discussions, as if he disappeared into thin air. A last-minute compromise was worked out in the Senate by the leaders of both parties.

Obama accepted the debt deal, although liberals despaired that it was almost a complete capitulation to Republicans — the compromise did not even mention raising lowest-in-decades taxes on the wealthy, which the president has unsuccessfully called for for months.

Even pro-Democrat commentators started to wonder whether Obama has the essential qualities of a leader. Few people now recognize in the president, driven into a corner and passive, the man who swept America with a promise of great change during his 2008 campaign. He is supported by only 38 percent of Americans now.

While politicians were arguing, the New York Stock Exchange was experiencing record declines. For the first time in history, the agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded the credit rating of the U.S. from the highest possible AAA to AA+. It did not have any major practical consequences as the interest rate of government bonds (i.e. the U.S. debt) did not increase, but the situation put everybody in an even worse mood.

It has become obvious that if the president wants to dream of a second term in office, he needs a new start. A week ago, Obama nominated Alan Kruger, an unemployment expert from Princeton University, to be the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. And on Thursday, the president will deliver an address on the economy and new jobs to a joint session of Congress.

No one knows what he will say, but the speech has already triggered a fuss. At first, Obama wanted to address Congress on Wednesday (Congress’ first day of work after vacation), but on that day the Republican presidential candidates are scheduled to participate in a debate, in which Texas Governor Rick Perry will appear for the first time. Perry announced his candidacy just three weeks ago but he immediately became the front-runner in the Republican nomination race. Mainly because half of all the jobs created in the U.S. in the past two years originated in Texas, governed by Perry.

Last Wednesday, Obama issued an open letter to the presiding officer of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, a Republican, in which he asked to deliver the address on the evening of Sept. 7. Boehner replied publicly as well: “[T]he House will not be in session until Wednesday, Sept. 7, with votes at 6:30 that evening. With the significant amount of time — typically more than three hours — that is required to allow for a security sweep of the House Chamber before receiving a President, it is my recommendation that your address be held on the following evening, when we can ensure there will be no parliamentary or logistical impediments that might detract from your remarks.”

“The Senate Historical Office knows of no instance in which Congress refused the president permission to speak before a joint session of Congress,” commented historian Betty Koed in The New York Times. “If the objective of the White House and Speaker Boehner was to demonstrate to the American people that they have gotten the message from the markets and from voters that our economic straits are so dire that it is time to set petty politics aside, they have failed before they started,” said David Rothkopf, former Clinton administration official. “This childish gamesmanship regarding timing reconfirms to the world that Washington is a sandbox full of petulant children who don’t play well together.”

After backstage consultation on Wednesday evening, the White House released a statement saying that President Obama “welcomes the opportunity to address a joint session of Congress on Thursday.” Obama has yielded again. He is scheduled to begin his speech at 7 p.m., and it will not be an easy job. If he does not finish in 30 minutes or at least catch the viewers’ attention, they will change the channel, as the season-opening National Football League (NFL) game begins at 7:30 p.m.