Obama Is Setting Up a Minimum Wage Blame Game with the GOP in Coming Budget Negotiations

Never one to stay the course with an agenda item until it succeeds, President Barack Obama has now put aside the Chinese attempt to take over the entire East China Sea and the disastrous Obamacare and has turned to preaching to Congress about raising the minimum wage and securing the social safety net. He issued a wide-reaching appeal Wednesday to correct inequalities that he said make it harder for a child to escape poverty. "That should offend all of us," he declared. "We are a better country than this." Trying to benefit by hitting the pocketbook issues that Americans rank as a top concern, Obama argued that the dream of upward economic mobility is fading and that the growing income gap is a "defining challenge of our time." The President made his remarks at a nonprofit community center a short drive from the White House in one of Washington's poorest neighborhoods. Although he offered no new initiatives, Obama combined his call for Congress to act on pending short-term economic measures with a long-term view aimed at easing a growing level of US income inequality. If President Obama thought shifting topics would relieve the pressure he is feeling over the catastrophic rollout of Obamacare, he didn't help his own cause when he acknowledged his administration's "poor execution" in rolling out the flawed website that was supposed to be an easy portal for purchasing insurance, while blaming Republicans for a "reckless" shutdown of the government. "Nobody has acquitted themselves very well these past few months," Obama said. "So it's not surprising that the American people's frustrations with Washington are at an all-time high." Obama's speech was delivered amid public doubts over his stewardship of the economy, as his overall approval ratings sink and he seeks to move beyond the Obamacare troubles that have consumed his presidency in recent months. But, worse for Americans than the Obamacare fiasco, he said, are their growing difficulties in trying to make ends meet no matter how hard they work. The President quoted the Pope's question : why is it not news when an elderly homeless person dies from exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points. Obama said that a child born in the lowest 20% of income level has a less than 5% chance of making it to the top income levels and is 10 times likelier to stay where he is - worse than other industrial countries such as Canada, Germany and France. Responding, House Speaker John Boehner blamed lack of action on jobs-related legislation. He said bills passed by the Republican-controlled House that would help the economy and create jobs have been blocked in the Democratic-controlled Senate. "The Senate and the President continue to stand in the way of the people's priorities," he said on the House floor. Obama wants to increase the federal minimum wage from the current $7.25 an hour. A Democratic bill by Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa would raise the threshold to $10.10 an hour in three steps and tie automatic annual increases to changes in the cost of living. Obama conceded that "the elephant in the room" is the political gridlock that has prevented congressional action. ~~~~~ Dear readers, as Washington gears up for another round of budget negotiations, beginning this month, the Obama minimun wage proposal seems unlikely to garner the 60 votes it would need to clear the Senate. President Obama seems to be using the minimum wage proposal as the budget negotiations approach in order to force the Republican House majority to publicly say "no" to a sensitive social issue in their legitimate effort to reduce America's debt and bring the federal budget under control. Since Obamacare is now an issue favorable to the GOP, Obama appears to be creating yet another obstacle to real negotiation and compromise. President Obama does not seem to recognize that negotiating is not throwing nails in front of the oncoming truck. Negotiating is finding ways to agree on behalf of America so that everyone feels that they are a valuable part of the political process.