Business

Obama’s make-or-break speech on jobs

If it was an August full of angst for the White House — and it was — September is starting out on even worse footing for the president.

While last month was bookended by the S&P downgrade of the nation’s debt and a silly scheduling squabble over the timing of the president’s speech on employment, Labor Day weekend kicked off with the startling report that absolutely no jobs were created last month whatsoever.

The news that the economy is running at stall-speed leaves the president in the unenviable position having to deliver a speech as powerful as FDR’s 30 fireside chats all rolled up into one.

Then there is the timing of the president’s speech. Is it lost on the White House that most Americans find it absurd that he waited until presidential and congressional vacations were over in early September to get down to the business of trying to create jobs? Equity markets have lost 5 percent in August waiting for direction.

This, in a summer when tens of millions of Amercians are on a permanent, unplanned vacation, not of their own choosing.

In his speech on Thursday, the president needs to cut through the jargon and inspire again. Banned should be any phrase that includes the following: shovel-ready, clean energy, green jobs or Sputnik moment.

You get the point. Americans have heard all this for the first 32 months of the Obama presidency, and they aren’t buying it anymore.

What would jump-start American consumer confidence and the stock market would be a president who comes to Congress on Thursday evening and admits his approach has not worked.

In a best-case scenario, the chastened president would then announce a bold new platform that would shock supporters and detractors alike. Here is what the president should propose:

No. 1: A complete overhaul of the nation’s Byzantine tax system with a fairer, flatter tax structure along the lines of what the president’s Bowles-Simpson commission proposed. A bold cut in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent down to 20 percent or 25 percent would give the economy an immediate boost and entice offshore corporate cash to find a home here.

No. 2: President Obama should then show a commitment to true bipartisanship by naming some top business leaders to plug the many holes in his economic team, even if they don’t always curry favor with the White House. If former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is reluctant to return to Washington, perhaps JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon could be enticed to come on board at this critical juncture. Try some bold names, and Senate confirmation won’t be a problem.

No. 3: Finally, the president should set out on a mission to restore America’s triple-A credit rating with all the tenacity of the Tiger Mom. Getting that third “A” back would become a goal that the entire nation could get behind, framing the budget debate and adding urgency to the process.