Meaningless points on the board

Some commentators have said that with this healthcare package that passed
earlier this year and with this financial services package that is going to pass
next week, theoretically, the president is really putting “points on the
board.”

But in my mind, those points are kind of like the points that the reserves get
in garbage time, when the game is already over. They aren’t going to help the
Democrats win any elections, and more importantly, these legislative victories
aren’t going to create any new jobs.

A new poll shows that it would take a miracle for the Democrats to be able to
turn this ship around. The Wall Street Journal quoted Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the WSJ/NBC survey with Democratic pollster Peter Hart, as
saying that voters usually have their attitudes set by this time in any
election year — and this year the economy and oil are major influences.
“It would take an enormous and seismic event to change the drift of these
powerful forces before November,” McInturff said.

One of the principal problems with the Democratic strategy is that they are
putting the wrong kind of points on the board. The name of the game right now
is not more government regulation. The name of the game is jobs, and when it
comes to private-sector job creation, the White House and the Democrats have
absolutely no plan.

Several studies have shown how hard the healthcare bill will be on job
creation. The National Federation of Independent Business even filed a lawsuit
against the law because of their huge concerns with impact on small-business
job creation.

On the financial-services legislation, Chamber of Commerce head Tom Donohue hit
the nail on the head when he said of the bill, “It exacerbates uncertainties
for Main Street and America’s job creators, and consumers will pay the ultimate
price in higher fees, less choice and fewer opportunities to responsibly access
credit.” Doesn’t sound like a prescription for more jobs to me.

The president is scoring points when it comes to growing the size of
government, increasing government regulation, passing more laws and generally
getting his Democratic majorities to do things he wants them to do.

He is not scoring any points when it comes to creating policies to spur
private-sector job creation. As an example, the Democrats tried to jam through
something that was actually called a jobs bill by the media (even though its
principal purpose was extending unemployment insurance for those who don’t have
a job), but failed when centrist Democrats choked on the price tag.

President Obama is a self-professed White Sox fan, but he is swinging the bat
like Ron Santo. He is putting meaningless points on the board, but he is still
losing the game by a wide margin.

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