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WASHINGTON (AP) - In President Barack Obama's sales pitch for
his jobs bill, there are two versions of reality: The one in his
speeches and the one actually unfolding in Washington.


      When Obama accuses Republicans of standing in the way of his
nearly $450 billion plan, he ignores the fact that his own party
has struggled to unite behind the proposal.


      When the president says Republicans haven't explained what they
oppose in the plan, he skips over the fact that Republicans who
control the House actually have done that in detail.


      And when he calls on Congress to "pass this bill now," he
slides past the point that Democrats control the Senate and were
never prepared to move immediately, given other priorities.
Senators are expected to vote Tuesday on opening debate on the
bill, a month after the president unveiled it with a call for its
immediate passage.


      To be sure, Obama is not the only one engaging in rhetorical
excesses. But he is the president, and as such, his constant
remarks on the bill draw the most attention and scrutiny.


      The disconnect between what Obama says about his jobs bill and
what stands as the political reality flow from his broader aim: to
rally the public behind his cause and get Congress to act, or, if
not, to pin blame on Republicans.


      He is waging a campaign, one in which nuance and context and
competing responses don't always fit in if they don't help make the
case.


      For example, when Obama says his jobs plan is made up of ideas
that have historically had bipartisan support, he stops the point
there. Not mentioned is that Republicans have never embraced the
tax increases that he is proposing to cover the cost of his plan.


      Likewise, from city to city, Obama is demanding that Congress
act (he means Republicans) while it has been clear for weeks that
the GOP will not support all of his bill, to say the least.
Individual elements of it may well pass, such as Obama's proposal
to extend and expand a payroll tax cut. But Republicans strongly
oppose the president's proposed new spending and his plan to raise
taxes on millionaires to pay for the package.


      The fight over the legislative proposal has become something
much bigger: a critical test of the president's powers of
persuading the public heading into the 2012 presidential campaign,
and of Republicans' ability to deny him a win and reap victory for
themselves.


      "He knows it's not going to pass. He's betting that voters
won't pick up on it, or even if they do they will blame Congress
and he can run against the `do-nothing Congress,"' said Sherry
Bebitch Jeffe, a senior fellow at the University of Southern
California's School of Policy, Planning and Development.


      John Sides, political science professor at George Washington
University, said Obama's approach on the jobs bill is "more about
campaigning than governing."


      "He's mostly just going around talking about this and drawing
contrasts with what the Republicans want and what he wants and not
really trying to work these legislative levers he might be able to
use to get this passed," Sides said. "That just suggests to me
that he is ready to use a failed jobs bill as a campaign message
against the Republicans."


      The president's opponents aren't exactly laying it all out,
either.


      Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., tried to force a
vote on the bill last week, innocently claiming that the president
was entitled to one. McConnell knew full well that the result would
be failure for the legislation and an embarrassment for Obama.


      House Speaker John Boehner, meanwhile, claimed that Obama has
"given up on the country and decided to campaign full-time"
instead of seeking common ground with the GOP. But Boehner
neglected to mention that Obama's past attempts at compromise with
Republicans often yielded scant results, as Obama himself pointed
out.


      The approach for Obama, who is seeking a second term in a dismal
economy, is far different than the one he took when running for
president. He criticized the GOP then, but talked about ending
blue-state and red-state America, replacing it with one America,
fixing the broken political system, and fundamentally changing
Washington.


      That ended up being change he could not bring about, and now
analysts say Obama may have little choice but to campaign more
narrowly by attacking opponents rather than trying to bring people
together.


      Obama's attempts at compromise with the GOP on the debt ceiling
and budget won him little in the way of policy, instead engendering
frustration from Democrats who saw him as caving to Republican
demands.


      The new, combative Obama isn't looking for compromise. He's
looking for a win. And if he can't get the legislative victory he
says he wants, he has made clear that he's more than willing to
take a political win.


      It is, he acknowledges, a result his campaign for his jobs bill
is designed to achieve.


      Talking up the bill in an appearance last month with
African-American news websites, Obama said: "I need people to be
out there promoting this and pushing this and making sure that
everybody understands the details of what this would mean, so that
one of two things happen: Either Congress gets it done, or if
Congress doesn't get it done, people know exactly what's holding it
up."
      

Gallery

Politics and Government News

In President Barack Obama's sales pitch for
his jobs bill, there are two versions of reality: The one in his
speeches and the one actually unfolding in Washington.

Spin Meter: Obama disconnects rhetoric, reality

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