If President Obama wanted to highlight his befuddlement about what creates jobs, he hit pay dirt on the day when the latest U.S. unemployment report was released.
Try to get a handle on his activities, as reported not by conservative radio or websites but by Obama-friendly National Public Radio on the same day that we learned joblessness had risen to 8.2 percent in May:
“[The president] and other White House officials have gotten plenty of practice in trying to put the best face on dissatisfying economic numbers while trying to stay on the offensive,” NPR reported. “Obama, for instance, had a visit to a Honeywell plant in Minnesota on his Friday schedule so he could talk up his initiative to encourage employers to hire military veterans. It was part of a strategy to show that he has ideas for improving the nation’s job picture.”
Let us stipulate that employers are doing noble work and deserve commendation if they make extra efforts to give troops returning from places such as Afghanistan and Iraq a good shot at employment.
Nonetheless, the fact that Obama apparently thinks a federal initiative to encourage more hiring of veterans is going to improve employment as a whole is as telling a sign of his cluelessness as almost any he has shown so far in his three and a half years in office.