Some months ago the Obama administration put out the word that the economy is doing great and 10% unemployment should be considered the new normal. As the unemployed were almost exclusively persons without college degrees seeking employment in the small business sector, the intellectual, media and political elite could not care less. Tim Geitner can make the Sunday rounds unafraid that he would be asked about horrific unemployment statistics, such as the 41.1% Black youth unemployment or the “unexpected” rise in the number of persons applying for unemployment benefits a second week in a row or that the initial unemployment claims data have not really changed in the past five and a halve months despite repeated administration assertions to the contrary.

The opposite has been true. Thus, when Scott Brown asserts on Face the Nation that no one in Washington cares about unemployment, Bob Schiffer’s response underlines the truth of his assertion:

 

BOB SCHIEFFER: Do you– do you agree with– you know, our poll last week of the– the CBS in it’s poll showed that most people, a large group of people in the Tea Party think the President is pushing the country towards socialism. Do you believe that?SENATOR SCOTT BROWN: I know that the President should start to focus on jobs and job creation and– and– and– and– and that hasn’t been done. Since I’ve been here we’ve done health care, which they obviously rammed through by using a parliamentary procedure that has never been used for something this big ever. And then the bill as we’re finding out is– is flawed, seriously flawed. It’s going to cost medical device companies in my state, you know, thousands of jobs. But then, we’re taking– we’re talking now about regulation reform. We’re politicizing that. Maybe– I’ve heard illegal immigration is going to come forth. When we’re in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the only thing they talked about from the Presidents all the way down to the poorest farmer were jobs. Since I’ve been here, I’ve heard zero talk about jobs. So, I’ll let– leave that up to the political pundits, but I know from what I’ve seen that we need to focus on jobs and the President should start to do so.

BOB SCHIEFFER: But, do you decline to answer my question: is he pushing the country towards socialism?

SENATOR SCOTT BROWN: I don’t think he’s making proper choices when it comes to dealing with the– the free market and free enterprise and allowing businesses to– to really run themselves and create jobs. And as a result, larger government is happening and we’re creating jobs but they’re all government jobs. And the private sector is definitely– definitely suffering.

BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): Do you think the President shares American values

A similar exchange took place on Meet the Press. This time it was not a Republican Senator who raised the issue but an Telemundo anchor, Jose Diaz-Balart who pointed out that Hispanics care more about jobs than derivatives.

 

DAVID GREGORY: . . . And this– this charge of– of misleading people, I mean, this is what drives people crazy around the country.JOSE DIAZ-BALART: Absolutely.

DAVID GREGORY: Are we really gonna change any of that?

JOSE DIAZ-BALART: . . . A lot of people are watching what’s going on in Washington and New York. And their eyes are glazing over, because it doesn’t affect or it doesn’t benefit them at all in their communities. You know? We continue with high unemployment. The Hispanic community, almost 14 percent of the men in the Hispanic community are unemployed.

And what they see is more investment in government and less investment in small towns and in small businesses. And a lot of people are saying, “You know what? Maybe the government shouldn’t be so worried about funding government– agencies and government programs and let’s start taking care of the small– and large businesses that are in the community. And they’re the ones that hire.” . . . DAVID GREGORY: So, here’s a larger political question for everybody. Ron, I want to start with you, because you– you’ve looked at this– analytically. Who is winning? Politically? (LAUGH)

RON BROWNSTEIN: That’s a great question, David.

DAVID GREGORY: On the economy? Whether it’s regulation, whether it’s jobs, whether it’s stimulus, who’s winning? Republicans or Democrats in this election year? . . .

JOSE DIAZ-BALART: I don’t think a lot of people, for example, in the Hispanic community, to be very specific, think that Barack Obama is a socialist. I do tell you this. That there is a lot of anger and rejection as to what Washington’s been doing. And I think that this feeling that we sense throughout the country is the exact same feeling that I’m sensing in my community. They are sick and tired of government taking them for granted. And politicians owe their jobs to our votes. And they’ve gotten them. And now it’s time for them to say, “This is what we’re doing for you. Not for us. Not for the big corporations. And not for government.”

No, David Gregory did not note that Instead, they argued a la Obama that Americans should be grateful for the few hundred dollars they got in tax cuts and the Hispanics should be grateful for the new health care.

 

RON BROWNSTEIN: It’s 30 percent of the Hispanic community . . . So, I mean, in terms of a material impact on the Hispanic community, it’s hard to think of anything that could be more direct than that.

In other words, how dare Hispanics complain about a lack of jobs (or immigration reform)? Ron Brownstein, Bob Schiefer and David Gregory agree with Barack Obama’s good friend SEIU man, Andy Stern when he argued that equality brought about through big government trumps the freedom and dignity inherent in having a job.

 

Western Europe, as much as we used to make fun of it, has made different trade-offs which may have ended with a little more unemployment but a lot more equality.

Yes, Socialism always works for bureaucracies and flatters intellectuals. That is the reason they love it so.

Also see my HNN blog Deja Vu

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