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Obama talks with top advisers ahead of jobs speech

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President Obama leaves his compound on his way to play golf on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, August 24, 2011. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

President Obama leaves his compound on his way to play golf on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, August 24, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

EDGARTOWN, Massachusetts | Thu Aug 25, 2011 1:20pm EDT

EDGARTOWN, Massachusetts (Reuters) - President Barack Obama held a conference call on Thursday with top advisers to discuss the economy and progress on a plan he will announce next month to lift U.S. hiring and growth, the White House said.

Obama, vacationing on this upscale island off the coast from Boston, spoke with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, chief of staff William Daley, White House budget chief Jack Lew, and National Economic Council director Gene Sperling.

They discussed the "progress being made on the new jobs proposals and deficit reduction measures" being worked on for a major Obama jobs speech after the September 5 U.S. Labor Day holiday, the White House said.

The president has said the speech will lay out a detailed package of steps that he wants Congress to take to help bring unemployment down from current levels pinned above 9 percent.

Obama's hopes for winning re-election next year hinge largely on his success in persuading Americans that his economic policies are working. But he must get any measures through a divided Congress, in which Republicans control the U.S. House of Representatives and his fellow Democrats control the Senate.

(Reporting by Alister Bull and Laura MacInnis, editing by Vicki Allen)
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Comments (37)
stephan1947 wrote:
Shalom & Erev tov…the unemployment rate is actually HIGHER than the government semantic tap-dancers are willing to admit. Coupled with this is the escalating fascism of ‘tea party’ republicanazism whose policies now are bordering on genocide, viz. their ‘health care’ policy is, sick? die quickly!. The jobs ‘outsourced’ (meaning sent elsewhere to maximize profits) are NOT coming back, and transnational corporations OWN the republicanazis. As an American citizen I know this (even a 4th reich acolyte, the antisemitic Perry would repeal the 20th century if he could), and so do millions of us. Obama is a coward. He needs to take bold, aggressive action as was done during the 1930s, i.e. genuine public works programmes. ‘Retraining’–to do what? I am a 64 year unemployed Jewish male, with a degree (useless, really), facing age discrimination for 16 months. Tell me, can you retrain me?
STEPHAN PICKERING / Chofetz Chayim ben-Avraham

Aug 25, 2011 1:27am EDT  --  Report as abuse
Pllc15 wrote:
Now, the real challege for the President is to find common ground on a compromise between government and private spending to jump-start the economy. Democrats are Keynesians believing government spending is the answer while the Republicans believe private sector will do the job. TP’s will resist any additional government spending that would jeopardize Obama’s job package being passed.

Aug 25, 2011 1:27am EDT  --  Report as abuse
LEEDAP wrote:
I think some grand theatrics is all Obama will be able to muster with Republicans blocking his every move. He must spark a nerve with the public, gain their sympathies and give them hope that his policies can work, even though there’s no chance of even a good idea getting passed through the House. If he can come out looking like the underdog fighting a bunch of selfish babies he’ll look ok come November 2012. Unfortunately that won’t do any good for the unemployed who look to be the pawns in the economic suicide the Republicans have planned. Maybe things will be better in 2013.

Aug 25, 2011 3:32am EDT  --  Report as abuse
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