The Obama Diary

No hiding it, this is one seriously, seriously crappy day.

But we all know it’s a joyful day for some (and not just on the right), the higher the unemployment figure the greater the chance they’ll succeed in putting a Koch-funded Republican in the White House in 2012. They’re certainly not concerned about the people who are struggling to find work. The more the merrier.

So, by all means, express your anger and disappointment about today’s news, let it rip! But try to dig deep too, we know these people’s strategy has always been to ‘divide and conquer’, they will pile it on today and in the days ahead in an attempt to demoralize those who support the President in the face of this relentless opposition and obstruction.

So, fight back with the truth:

Nancy Pelsoi today: “In the six months since Republicans have been in charge of the House, they have failed to bring a single jobs bill to the floor or offer a clear jobs plan. Democrats have forced ten votes on job-creation measures in this Congress - and Republicans have voted ‘no’ each time.”

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President Obama today: “Right now, there are over a million construction workers out of work after the housing boom went bust, just as a lot of America needs rebuilding. We connect the two by investing in rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our railways and our infrastructure. And we could put back to work right now some of those construction workers that lost their jobs when the housing market went bust. Right now, we can give our entrepreneurs the chance to let their job-creating ideas move to market faster by streamlining our patent process. That’s pending before Congress right now. That should pass.

Today, Congress can advance trade agreements that will help businesses sell more American-made goods and services to Asia and South America, supporting thousands of jobs here at home. That could be done right now.

Right now, there are a lot of middle-class families who sure could use the security of knowing that the tax cut that I signed in December to help boost the economy and put a thousand dollars in the pockets of American families, that that’s still going to be around next year. That’s a change that we could make right now.

There are bills and trade agreements before Congress right now that could get all these ideas moving. All of them have bipartisan support. All of them could pass immediately. And I urge Congress not to wait. The American people need us to do everything we can to help strengthen this economy and make sure that we are producing more jobs.”

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November 6, 2025 is a long, long way away … there’s lots of work and truth-telling to be done.

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PS The media love quoting Gallup’s latest unemployment rate when it’s worse than the official figure - I’m guessing we won’t hear much about this:

Gallup