$50 Billion — Obama’s Political Manipulation?

Obama’s $50 billion infrastructure plan has come at quite a time. It should be noted that Obama really knows how to do things; he waited until a Labor Day celebration to announce the plan in order to give the announcement more impact among workers and to show that he cares about labor and is resolved to working to improve the job market.

This public project entails comprehensive repair and improvement of the whole country’s highways, bus and rail systems, as well as air traffic control. Even the Obama administration is uncertain about the extent to which this plan will contribute to economic recovery. The results will be clear only after six years, but water in the future does not satisfy immediate thirst.

In order to help more people understand the pains the president has gone to, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis appeared on NBC’s “Today” show and spoke about the $50 billion plan and clearly expressed that its purpose was to help the unemployed quickly resume working. It’s interesting that although this program is called the “Today” show, it seems that it turned out to be only a footnote to Obama’s Labor Day speech.

Actually, both the U.S. media and members of Congress universally doubt the prospects of the bill’s passage by Congress. Some media organizations even say bluntly that the plan will certainly not be approved by Congress.

They say this because of the delicateness of timing. As Obama announces a plan to stimulate employment, one important background element must be noted: the midterm elections of Nov. 2. There are more and more indications that the Democrats will suffer a bitter defeat in the upcoming round of Congressional elections, as well as losses in state gubernatorial elections, making Obama and other Democrats feel ill at ease.

Even while Obama worries about unemployment statistics, opinion polls are also making him restless. The latest Gallup poll shows that the approval rating for the Republican Party is 10 percentage points above that of the Democrats, and this is the widest gap in 68 years!

The key factors behind this gap are the unemployment rate and the state of the economy. As far as the U.S. electorate is concerned, the wars in distant Iraq and even Afghanistan are currently not the most important issues; voters are most concerned with domestic affairs and want relief from economic difficulty. And during the last 20 months, Obama has been unable to offer a satisfying resolution for these concerns.

What is really making people feel desperate is not the employment situation itself, but that there has been no clear increase in employment or improvement of the overall economy since the astronomically large stimulus plan went into effect. The dissatisfaction resulting from these feelings of disappointment and even desperation could cause a sizable number of voters to leave the Democrats helpless after the midterm elections.

Clearly, the Obama administration is unwilling to acknowledge this. For Obama, if he loses the midterm elections, not only would this represent a blow to his popularity, but it will become difficult to introduce new legislation, and he could potentially enter an early lame duck stage. For a president so enamored with change, this may prove harder for him to bear than simply leaving office would be.

With this full situation in mind, it is quite clear that the $50 billion plan to improve employment is actually a way to gain popularity before the midterm elections. Thus, even the American media finds Obama’s plan suspicious; it seems more like an attempt at manipulation.

All of Capitol Hill understands what’s going on in Obama’s mind. Of course the Republicans will not bow to his wishes but will line up as soon as the plan comes out to express their inability to accept it, or as the U.S. media call it, their “immediate opposition.” Whatever the Republicans say, they hope to prevent the Democratic government from achieving any sort of legislative victory before the midterm elections.

Apart from the political rivalry, Republicans do not approve of Obama’s way of handling the economy. In their view, Obama’s original economic stimulus plan raised serious questions as to its wastefulness and lack of a clear emphasis. Further, this perspective has gained the support of a number of economists.

Interest groups are also feeling cranky. Officials from the Obama administration report that funds for the new stimulus plan will come from canceling tax incentives for oil and natural gas companies in order to avoid adding to the federal deficit. This is very difficult for certain political groups to accept, particularly energy and other interest groups who wield considerable influence within the Republican Party.

In fact, even Democrats are not too willing to risk supporting the plan. Considering that the Obama administration will face the challenge of the largest financial deficit in history ($1.47 trillion), many Democrats are unwilling to support the new spending plan and are striving to distance themselves from the issue of the deficit before the midterm election. Whereas the Republicans of the midterm elections of four years ago made painstaking efforts to downplay their relationship with President Bush because of his launching of the Iraq war, today’s Democrats hope to maintain a safe distance between them and the spiraling deficit and struggling economy.

Obama’s enthusiasm for infrastructure improvement has appeared too late. In reality, he should have turned his attention to lowering the unemployment rate at this time last year and worked hand-in-hand with countries like China to find new areas for economic growth, rather than slapping tire tariffs on us, since we have been such a help in the recovery of the U.S. economy.

Even if people can run faster, if they are running in the wrong direction, it will just have been a waste of energy with no positive results to show in the end.