It’s always been about the jobs, stupid.

Eugene Robinson whines about the lack of cool slogan for progressives:

In the midst of a profound economic slump, with unemployment at crisis levels, we’ve just had a long and bitter budget debate that wasn’t about how government might try to create jobs. It was about budget cuts that will eliminate jobs.

And what is the progressive response? Basically, all of the above — which doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker. Democrats have utterly failed to develop and communicate a Big Idea of their own.

Obama talks about “winning the future,” but that’s too nebulous. I’d suggest something pithier: jobs, jobs, jobs.

People may dislike paying taxes, but they dislike unemployment more. Progressives should talk about bringing the nation back to full employment and healthy growth — and how this requires an adequately funded government to play a major role.

The emphasis was mine, as Robinson’s comments are clueless.  Democrats had the better part of three years with control of the White House and majorities in Congress, plus trillions in new debt, and stimulus money.  Surely this was and “adequately funded” government at work, no?

Jim Geraghty smacks Robinson around:

Really? Seriously? The president with a stagnant economy, unemployment that never dipped below 8.8 percent since April 2009, and with the rate inching up again is going to run on jobs, jobs, jobs?

Of course Obama inherited a troubled economy with an unemployment rate rising fast. The problem is that he was given a heavily Democratic Congress, and he gave us the very best he could do with the stimulus, which hasn’t even come close to bringing it down. In fact, Obama’s A-team of economic advisers didn’t clearly understand the recession, and vastly overestimated how much good their preferred stimulus plan would do […]

What’s the slogan after “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs”? “I swear, I’ll do better next term! This has never happened to me before!”

I think we’ve had enough with empty slogans, styrofoam Greek columns and long-winded speeches, and other such nonsense.