In President Obama’s address to Congress last week
calling for passage of his latest spending proposal that he’s deemed a
jobs bill, the president repeatedly called on Congress to “pass this
bill.” He said, “The next election is 14 months away. And the people
who sent us here — the people who hired us to work for them — they
don’t have the luxury of waiting 14 months.” He added, “Regardless of
the arguments we’ve had in the past, regardless of the arguments we will
have in the future, this plan is the right thing to do right now.  You
should pass it.”

Yet despite the president’s repeated appeals to “pass this jobs bill” quickly, the AP
reported this weekend, “Despite expressions of urgency, it could be
weeks or months before debate begins on the floor of the House or Senate
on the president’s recommendations.” And, the AP pointed out,
“Democratic officials said the White House wanted to allow time for
Obama to make the case publicly for his program before formal debate
begins in Congress. The president is expected to fly to Ohio and North
Carolina next week for appearances along the same lines as the one he
made in Richmond — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s district — on
Friday.” In other words, the president urges swift passage of his bill,
but not before he does a few more campaign-style events about it.

In
his address to Congress, President Obama also said, “This isn’t
political grandstanding.” And emphasized, “[T]he millions of Americans
who are watching right now, they don’t care about politics.” The next
day, at an event in Richmond, VA, President Obama said,
“Here in Virginia, here in Richmond, people don’t have time for
political concerns.” He said Congress should support his proposal and
“set politics aside for a moment to deal with America’s problems.”

But according to TPM,
“The Democratic National Committee has a new TV ad up promoting
President Obama’s jobs bill. The ad shows a clip from Obama’s address to
Congress last week: ‘The next election is 14 months away. And the
people who sent us here — the people who hired us to work for them —
they don’t have the luxury of waiting 14 months.’ On-screen text shows
the address for a DNC website promoting the plan, and exhorts viewers:
‘Read it. Fight for it.’”

And CBS White House Correspondent Mark Knoller reported on Twitter this morning, “To show the political importance the WH places on the jobs bill, It’s having the DNC launch a media blitz for the measure.” He noted, “The DNC blitz includes TV ads, online ads and a website . . . .” The Denver Post
adds, “The Democratic National Committee is running ads in Denver and a
handful of other integral electoral states this week to promote the
president’s jobs bill.”

So
President Obama says there is no time to waste before passing his bill,
but Democrat officials say he wants to hold rallies about it across the
country first. And he says there is no “time for political concerns”
and “[t]his isn’t political grandstanding.” But the Democratic National
Committee is paying for TV ads about the bill in “integral electoral
states” and has created a website to promote it.

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