In the Tuesday Morning Jolt, a look at Rick Perry’s 20-20 plan, the latest crime wave to coincide with Occupy Wall Street, and then this sudden shift in presidential strategy:
The Bus Tour Strategy Gets Thrown Under the Bus
He took it to the people . . . and it didn’t work.
With his jobs plan stymied in Congress by Republican opposition, President Obama on Monday will begin a series of executive-branch actions to confront housing, education and other economic problems over the coming months, heralded by a new mantra: “We can’t wait” for lawmakers to act.
According to an administration official, Mr. Obama will kick off his new offensive in Las Vegas, ground zero of the housing bust, by promoting new rules for federally guaranteed mortgages so that more homeowners, those with little or no equity in their homes, can refinance and avert foreclosure.
“One thing’s for sure, Obama is no fan of Constitutional checks and balances,” concludes Zip at Weasel Zippers.
At JustOneMinute, Tom Maguire cries, “Those obstructionist Republicans! But back in reality, the bills lost to a bipartisan group of Republicans and Democrats. OK, not many Democrats, but still. Obama can’t even hold his own party together, but he wants to blame Republicans and the Times wants to help.”
At the Washington Examiner, Conn Carroll had to be treated for whiplash with the sudden change in Obama’s strategy: “Last week, it was a bus tour in North Carolina and Virginia specifically pushing the aid-to-states portion of his second stimulus at the same time that Democrats were pushing for a vote in the Senate. That failed. This week, while Senate Dems push the infrastructure portion of his jobs plan, Obama will ignore Congress and launch a “We can’t wait” campaign highlighting executive orders he is making to turn the economy around. . . . Which makes Obama look less weak? Continually failing to get even a majority of Democrats to vote for his second stimulus, or continually announcing a series of measures that no one believes will help the economy?”
Meanwhile, at White House Dossier, Keith Koffler notices a wrinkle in who had the scoop on Obama’s initiatives and who didn’t:
The Washington Post this morning ran an excellent piece about how President Obama has come up way short on his promises to help the housing market.
And so . . .
Today, Obama will travel to Las Vegas where he will outline new steps to help borrowers refinance. The White House leaked the story to the Post’s chief competitors on the national newspaper scene, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, as well as Reuters.
But not the Post.