Obama goes for a reset on jobs

August 21, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Tribune

WASHINGTON

As a summer of severe political and economic tumult winds down, President Barack Obama is in quiet consultations with advisers from his vacation compound in Martha’s Vineyard, mapping out a jobs package that he hopes can boost a sluggish economy and win over voters who are coming to doubt his leadership.

Obama raised expectations during his Midwest bus tour last week that the jobs plan will mark a kind of reset for his presidency. He could use a fresh start: A Gallup poll found public approval of Obama’s handling of the economy has fallen to 26 percent, the lowest of his presidency.

Republicans bested him in the months-long fight over raising the debt ceiling by using the threat of economic catastrophe as a cudgel to rein in spending and reject any tax increases.

World stock markets are reeling, and a new forecast by Morgan Stanley said the United States and Europe are “dangerously close” to lapsing back into recession.

As his tour bus stopped in rural hamlets and towns, a feisty Obama issued an ultimatum to the GOP: Join him and pass a jobs plan or risk being viewed by the public as the party that only blocks, never compromises.

The question is whether the president can deliver. The administration’s plan comes right from the Obama playbook: a high-stakes speech meant to give his political fortunes an instant jolt. Such tactics haven’t worked of late. Obama’s overall job approval rating dipped below 40 percent for the first time last week — higher than Congress’ rating but below where a president up for re-election wants to be.