Promise Zones

President Obama came on the scene like a breath of fresh air. His charismatic personality and his exceptional oratorical skills impressed the country and with a fine campaign he was able to first overcome Hillary Clinton and then to win the election. These same skills have now become his Achilles heel. While giving great speeches works well in campaign mode many more skills are needed to govern and Our President is sorely lacking in these areas. The result is that he still believes he can sway public opinion with oratory but it is no longer effective. Today The President will come out with another plan of government spending for depressed areas. It is called “Promise Zones” and will cost around a billion dollars which is not enough to make a difference in the unemployment but enough to attract all sorts of graft. It is just one more time when he believes that he can go out and give some speeches and solve some problems. Contrast that approach to Senator Rand Paul who a couple of weeks ago announced a plan to help these distressed areas by offering tax incentives to private businesses to come into those areas. He points out that there are experienced workers there who have been unemployed for many months and are anxious to go to work. I see The President’s approach as a desperate plan to prove he is doing something and while it may achieve some political ends it will not do much for the economy.