Community Organizing for Job Creation? Mr. President, Do the Opposite!

By Chip Hanlon | 12/01/09 | 08:22 PM EDT | 14 Comments

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Oh, baby, now he's really pulling out all the stops!

A few weeks ago when he announced his upcoming Jobs Summit at the White House, a lot of people made fun of President Obama.

What those critics obviously didn't realize was how he was going to put his skills together to organize the community-- the entire, um, national community, I guess-- to join in this jobs summit and come up with solutions to "get America working again." Oh, yeah... he's cooking with gas now! Read this beauty from WhiteHouse.gov:

This Thursday, the President is hosting a discussion at the White House to explore every possible avenue for job creation and get ideas from CEOs, small business owners, economists, financial experts, labor union representatives, nonprofit groups and regular Americans who have felt the impact of this economic crisis firsthand.

But you don’t need to be at the event in DC to participate.  Today we’re announcing nationwide community job forums that will run from November 30th through December 13th.  These discussions, among neighbors, co-workers and friends, will be a source of insights and ideas that will inform the President’s approach to job creation.  Through WhiteHouse.gov, hosts can upload the results of their discussions. Back here at the White House, we’ll compile the feedback into a report that will be sent to the Oval Office for review.

Let us know if you are interested in organizing a jobs forum in your community, and we’ll follow up with discussion questions and other materials to make your event as productive as possible. We’re not able to offer an events center where you can find events already happening, so if you haven’t heard of one in your area, start your own and reach out to your network for participants.

No matter how you slice it: you're pathetic, Mr. President.

Either you really don't have the first clue about how an economy grows (which, pssst, is already plainly apparent) and you really need our help, OR, you think we're all idiots-- that we're going to believe we're all going to get together, submit to you thousands of proposals that you will then review, cobble together and implement.

Good bleeping grief.

We know you're going to hike taxes on the wealthy through healthcare, hike taxes on all of us through cap-and-trade, boost the death tax, pass another "stimulus" plan to pass more chits to your union buddies and generally regulate this economy to death if you're not stopped.

Actually, I have the perfect suggestion for you, and I didn't even need to coffee klatch with anyone! Here it is:

Are you well-versed in your Seinfeld episodes, Mr. President? How about the one where George landed a sweet job with the Yankees and started really scoring with the ladies? Do you remember why things started going so right for him?

On the economy, Mr. President: do the opposite.

"If every instinct you have is wrong..."

 

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14 Comments | Related Topics »National

 

Comments

 
My community event

I am hosting a community group myself. It will go like this: "Quit electing these freaking socialists and then we'll all have more money to hire people with." Then, I'll open it up for Q&A.

Submitted by DLB4USC on Tue, 12/01/09 - 08:42 PM » | Print
 
 
Maybe it will work

or maybe it won't. But asking Americans for ideas for spurring job growth is hardly a stupid idea. Chip, are you one of the "old school" types who thinks that workers are all dumb as doors and it should be up to management to call all the shots? That was the GM way. Toyota, on the other hand, asked their hourly people how to make things work better. We know how that story has unfolded. As a CO of a commissioned military unit which was largely manned with reserve personnel I once took all the officers and senior enlisted off site for a planning conference and left the E-6 and below guys alone to run the show for the drill weekend. I tasked them with coming up with ideas for improving how we did business and handed out some basic assignments to coordinate the effort on top of doing all the normal work for the weekend. When we returned late Sunday afternoon they had a bushel full of great ideas and were super excited to go over them with the leadership team. We used a bunch of them and that kicked off an incredible year for me and my crew. That's what this jobs idea thing sounds like; sorry you are so reactive just because the idea came from a hated Dem.

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 12/01/09 - 09:34 PM » | Print
 
 
I didn't realize people could be this dumb

You think he did a lot of listening at his March health care summit? Think they're still just excitedly sifting through all those terrific ideas as they stitch up this Frankenstein of a bill in order to get just enough votes to pass something-- anything? Get a clue, man.

Submitted by Chip Hanlon on Tue, 12/01/09 - 11:07 PM » | Print
 
 
Nice

The CEO of Red County refers to commenters (the people who read the ads that pay for this site) as "dumb". What b-school did you go to, Chip? State College of the Texahoma Panhandler?

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 12/02/09 - 12:09 AM » | Print
 
 
No, I call a spade a spade

I'm terribly plain spoken, and I don't mind if people are with me... I'm quite slow to take offense so I guess I just expect others to be, as well, even though I should know it's often not the case. What else would you call that post above? Is there any way to compare the legitimate, savvy management practice described within that post to the illegitimate show-summit Obama will be holding? No. End of story. By the way: politics is an opinion business, so I'm not too worried about offending people... happens every single time I write. Get over it. Plus, with your whining you're taking away from the beauty of Costanzanomics!

Submitted by Chip Hanlon on Wed, 12/02/09 - 12:32 AM » | Print
 
 
But that is only your opinion

You offered nothing in the way of facts to support your opinion. You don't feel the health-care idea-generation process worked and you likewise don't feel the idea for job creation idea generation will work and you chose to post a fluff piece to say so. Tell me - did you think the Town Hall events by people like, oh, Tom McClintock were useful as a tool to intelligently and thoughtfully collect public opinion on a topic? You simply had blowhards on both sides show up to shout each other down. And when Ken Campbell posted (on numerous occasions) glowing praise for the "patriots" who showed up at the McClintock events to bash health care reform we heard not a peep from you about what a "dumb" idea these Town Hall sessions were. Taken logically further, the Tea Party events were likewise a "dumb" way to collect public opinion because no one had any intention of listening to anyone who wasn't saying what the crowd wanted to hear. See why I got a bit upset? Hypocrisy. Capiche?

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 12/02/09 - 01:27 AM » | Print
 
 
I simply don't accept your

I simply don't accept your thesis about comparing this "event" to any other: Obama isn't doing this to listen to anyone. It is all for show and he will blunder along with the same growth-killing policies he already has in mind. I'll eat my hat here later if wrong.

Submitted by Chip Hanlon on Wed, 12/02/09 - 12:00 PM » | Print
 
 
Fedora or Baseball?

Do you want some ketchup? They are both a little dry without a good condiment.

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 12/02/09 - 02:52 PM » | Print
 
 
Get the F out of the way

That is all government needs to do. Meeting adjourned.

Submitted by Employer of 14 on Tue, 12/01/09 - 11:16 PM » | Print
 
 
Amen

Amen. Obama should cut spending on domestic programs, take care of national security funding, and cut taxes to stimulate investment and spending. It's not rocket science.

Submitted by Christian Milord on Tue, 12/01/09 - 10:19 PM » | Print
 
 
Costanza!

I love this whole backwards thing. It is perfect! Iran: Obama said nothing in support of those protestors. He should have done the opposite!

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 12/01/09 - 11:41 PM » | Print
 
 
"...then the opposite must be right."

Right... he wouldn't speak up for Iran, but he immediately leaped to the defense of the constitutionally-deposed, would-be leftist dictator in Honduras. "If every instinct I've ever had was wrong..."

Submitted by Chip Hanlon on Tue, 12/01/09 - 11:47 PM » | Print
 
 
"I'll have tuna on wheat with

"I'll have tuna on wheat with a cup of tea!"

Submitted by Scott on Wed, 12/02/09 - 11:45 PM » | Print
 
 
lol!

lol!

Submitted by Chip Hanlon on Thu, 12/03/09 - 02:25 AM » | Print
 

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