Campaign trip: President Obama's swing through North Carolina all about 2012

There will be some people who will really think that the president's Jobs Bill Tour is just about pushing a proposal that will be good for the country and will bring more jobs.

They are also the ones who are still behind the president and believe he has what it takes to turn this economy around.

If you look at the progress of the tour, you will see that aside from the obvious stops in the home districts of top Republican leaders, the tour focuses on two key swing states for the president's campaign -- North Carolina and Virginia.

Curious, isn't it that the key spots for the Jobs Bill "education" are what experts say are the two key states the president needs to stay in office?

But that is not all that should bother you about the stinkpot that is this mini-tour across America.

First of all, if there is obviously an issue with this bill -- and there must be if Democrats and Republicans are speaking out against it -- why in the world isn't the president back in Washington fixing it, tweaking it and getting the job done?

Simple. This is not about the jobs plan. It is about using a lame proposal that misses the mark on job creation and economic recovery to buffet the Republican leadership, which has offered to sit down to talk about the problem and to try to come to a resolution.

Call it spin control. If you cannot come up with a legitimate suggestion, offer a subpar one and then attack anyone who rightly criticizes it. Then, you give the appearance of doing something, even if it is the wrong thing that will change nothing.

This is just another example of how the president is convinced that substance is not nearly as important as appearance when it comes to doing his job -- or getting re-elected.

And then, as if the other parts were not bad enough, you have to realize that this campaign swing in Jobs Tour clothing is not being financed from the president's own campaign funds.

You are paying for it.

That's right, at a time when the last thing this nation needs to be doing is wasting more money, the president has decided to amass a huge bill to further his own future.

Scary, isn't it?

We have been to this rodeo before. Creating more government jobs and "shovel-ready" projects did nothing except make things worse last time. There is no evidence it will do anything but the same thing again.

So we should speak out against the bus tour as it winds its propaganda trail through North Carolina and let the president know appearing to do something won't be enough this time.

Otherwise, we deserve whatever comes next.

Published in Editorials on October 18, 2011 10:07 AM