Obama to Kill Jobs Council

Now that President Obama has been re-elected, the vaunted jobs council is about to meet its demise.

The Obama administration’s original announcement of a jobs council back in 2011 surprised few observers of the partisan political scene; the council was obviously designed as a fig leaf to cover up the administration’s complete lack of direction on economic policy. During its two year existence, that fig leaf council has met just four times formally, and just 18 times informally for “listening and action sessions” – i.e. gobbledygook – in different locations around the country. And while President Obama has suggested that the council is a “work council,” making proposals the administration took seriously, the facts belie those glowing words. Jay Carney even told the press last year that Obama didn’t really care about the jobs council:

There’s no specific reason [he hasn’t met with the jobs council], except the president has obviously got a lot on his plate. But he continues to solicit and receive advice from numerous folks outside the administration about the economy, about ideas that he can act on with Congress or administratively to help the economy grow and help create jobs.

A White House aide tells The Hill today that the jobs council “was only intended” to last for two years. Obama is reportedly irked by the fact that the jobs council has recommended lifting regulations rather than creating new ones. Since the American people obviously did not hold Obama accountable for his economic failures as president, he is now going to focus on other issues: climate change, gun control, abortion, and immigration.