The job ahead of Obama

Embarking on a second presidential term, Barack Obama presented a vision of a progressive government that honors commitments to retirees, cares for the sick, invests in education and energy, and respects the rights of ever more Americans.

Philosophically, the themes of Obama’s inaugural address were of a piece with those he espoused in the 2012 presidential campaign — a liberalism that won over American voters.

Substantively, they were light on the building blocks that would support much of the President’s agenda: more jobs for more Americans.

Without a revived economy, the government has no way to pay down $16 trillion in debt short of massive spending cuts extending to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Without robust economic growth, what Obama presented as a false choice “between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future” will quickly become a painfully real choice.

Gliding past persistent unemployment that once drew promises of action, he declared: “An economic recovery has begun.” This followed the statement that, “A decade of war is now ending.”

Just as the pounding of suspected terrorists in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and elsewhere by drones undermines one assertion, lackluster job numbers undercut the other.

Despite signs of hope, this American recovery has been the weakest since the Great Depression. That is true in no small part because paralyzing warfare between the President and Republicans in Congress has taken precedence over making jobs-focused expenditures today and grappling with rising costs to put the country’s budget books on a path to balance tomorrow.

There was, unfortunately, little of the olive branch in the address, but Obama was right in saying to his GOP foes:

“We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.”

In his most moving passage, the President touched upon new business he’ll undertake.

He said, “Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country.”

That is correct, and immigration reform must be front and center in the second term.

He said, “Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.”

That is correct, and the message must be conveyed in ever more creative and compelling ways to win gun controls.

And, making history by embracing gay s on such an elevated platform, he said, “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.”

That statement, and the placement of Stonewall in the pantheon of civil rights beachheads alongside Seneca Falls and Selma, was a stunning sign not only of Obama’s evolution, but of the nation’s.

May our growth continue, not only in hearts and minds, but in monthly employment reports.

nydailynews.com