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September 2, 2010
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Waiting for the November job interview
Published February 5, 2010
We’ve been told it’s a new year — a new decade in fact — and things are different now.
Although they spent last year grappling with the problems considered top priority, like cap and trade and getting the healthcare bill through, congress has now decided its time to refocus on what really is the number one issue. With the unemployment rate sitting at above 10 percent, Congress has decided it is time to completely focus their attention on the very pressing issue of jobs — their own.
I find it amusing that when it looks to members of Congress that they could actually become one of those unpleasant statistics standing in line at the unemployment office — figuratively speaking of course — this issue suddenly moves to the top of the list.
Last year during the cap and trade bill negotiations House Speaker Nancy Pelosi even managed to convince people the bill was really as much about jobs as it was about green energy — really. I find it difficult to equate that with the fact that the bill has $4.2 billion written into it to compensate for the jobs that will be lost once it’s implemented. This $4.2 billion, to be spread out from 2011 to 2019, allows $1,500 per person for job-search assistance for people expected to be put out of work because of it. It also gives them an unemployment check for up to three years while they look for a new job or get retrained in another field. In fact, experts say when implemented, the bill is likely to cause a 0.5 percent drop in jobs in the first 10 years — and that’s over and above the unemployment rate we’re already dealing with.
However, I expect things will be a little different now that it’s congressional jobs that are on the line. With the surprise victory last month of Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, incumbents and potential challengers are studying his model as a way to campaign for the upcoming November elections. They still don’t get it.
Here’s a novel idea — how about campaigning on exactly what it is each candidate believes in — be it far right, far left or somewhere in the middle. Constituents can then vote for the candidate whose true beliefs are closest to their own. That way, voters are less likely to be surprised when they vote a candidate in only to find a completely different character takes up office in Washington.
I believe people completely misunderstood just what it was that got Brown elected. Those on the right say it was because people were upset with how far left Washington has moved and those on the left claim it was because people were upset Washington hasn’t move far enough left.
I know — it’s confusing.
Personally I think it was because people saw a glimmer of something that’s been missing in Washington for far too long. Someone who actually meant what he said and will likely vote exactly the way people who voted for him expect him to. Remember, this was the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts. Conventional wisdom would have had him running a very different campaign had he relied on previous models.
Hopefully more like Brown will come forward in November — whatever their political belief happens to be.
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