100 days without priority

“We’re beginning to create a new, clean-energy economy – and the millions of jobs that will flow from it.”

That was President Barack Obama speaking in Newton, Iowa, on Earth Day. The speech was meant to shore up support for his energy policies, but the opportunity was mostly wasted. Instead of leveling with Americans about the costs of a cap-and-trade scheme, he tried to package carbon caps as an economic stimulus that could shorten the recession and help small towns, which were already hurting before the crisis.

Today is Obama’s 100th day in office. The most disappointing part of his presidency so far has been his tendency to use the slumping economy to exaggerate the benefits of his economic policies while downplaying their costs.

This probably isn’t what White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had in mind when he gave the administration a B+, saying “there’s always room for improvement.” Obama might genuinely believe the American economy needs a fundamental new direction to succeed regardless of whether he manages to unclog Wall Street.

Two weeks ago Obama gave a speech at Georgetown University in which he lambasted the “bubble and bust economy” that has developed during the past few decades. He explained his economic philosophy with a biblical metaphor referring to the story from the Sermon on the Mount about how houses built on sand are “destroyed,” while those built on rock remain standing.

Obama doesn’t just want to save the house. He wants it to be built on rock.

But it’s clear Obama has had a harder time dealing with the recession because of his fix-everything approach. By trying to get an early start on health care, immigration and global warming, he has spread out his political capital and made it hard to resist populism.

With promises of high spending in the future, his budget proposal has further alienated Republicans from taking any role in his recovery plans. It has even miffed a few Democrats – Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., voted against Obama’s budget proposal.
Obama’s strategy won’t actually shore up the economy’s metaphorical foundation either. Major policy initiatives based on false expectations and passed without any bipartisan support will be fragile.

In 2007, Newton lost its Maytag Corp. appliances plant. The plant was recently purchased and reopened by Trinity Structural Towers, Inc. to construct windmills. But in a macro sense, capping carbon will redistribute jobs, not create them. Many Indiana residents who feel they are being promised replacements for their closed auto plants will be disappointed.

During his campaign, Obama bragged about his frankness but often relied on feel-good rhetoric. By the time he came to Bloomington for the Indiana presidential primary, his campaign was a party. People waited in Assembly Hall volleying around beach balls while listening to rapper will.i.am’s “Yes We Can” and the obligatory John Mellencamp song, only to hear a speech with few policy details.

A more serious Obama should have emerged in the White House.