Wall Street Journal - Obama Seeks to Shift Focus Back to Economy

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After focusing for months on gun control and an overhaul of immigration laws, President Barack Obama moved to shift the political conversation back to job creation Thursday, traveling to Texas to pitch his ideas for federal spending that he said would help the middle class.

Recent signs that the economy is strengthening have given the president an opening to revive the economic agenda he laid out in his State of the Union speech, which included a call for spending on roads and infrastructure, on an expansion of early-childhood education and on manufacturing research, as well as an increase in the minimum wage.

During the first months of this year, those ideas were overshadowed by other administration priorities and a series of budget issues, including across-the-board spending cuts known as the sequester.

The president went to Austin to argue that there is reason to be optimistic about the economy, but that investments are needed to fuel growth.

Stronger-than-expected jobs reports, a stock market on the rise and climbing housing prices provide Mr. Obama with room to ask for new spending.

Republicans still aren't sold on the president's economic agenda, saying that the recovery remains weak and that more spending isn't the solution. The encouraging economic signs also complicate the administration's efforts to force a repeal of the sequester, which the president has argued will cost jobs and hinder growth.

In Texas, Mr. Obama offered tempered enthusiasm for the economy, ticking off a list of positive indicators and then arguing that more progress was possible.

"I've sent Congress proposals on a whole range of ideas," Mr. Obama said at Manor New Technology High School near Austin. "But some of them have been blocked in Congress for, frankly, political reasons."

After saying little in recent months about proposals to expand early childhood education and to create manufacturing innovation institutes, the president renewed his push for those proposals.

"Where I can, I'm just going to go ahead and take action on my own," Mr. Obama said. The White House announced two executive actions, including the launch of a competition to create three manufacturing institutes and an order to make data generated by the government easily accessible to entrepreneurs, researchers and others.

Congressional approval is needed to enact most of Mr. Obama's proposals. So far, they have drawn mostly derision from Republicans.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested Thursday that Mr. Obama's trip was more about visuals than results, saying that putting on a pair of goggles at a factory was "a great way to at least look like you're doing something about job creation."

Rep. Kevin Brady, (R., Texas), chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said that long-term investments were important, but that encouraging businesses to invest should be the priority. He said the president's agenda wouldn't accomplish that.

"I don't think most people feel better off because of the president's leadership," Mr. Brady said. "I'm sure it's well intentioned, but that's not what the economy needs right now."

The last jobs report, which showed employers adding 165,000 jobs in April, helped ease investors' concerns about another spring swoon. Unemployment ticked down to 7.5% from 7.6% in the prior month, to the lowest level since 2008. Mr. Obama said it was still too high.

Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, said administration's policies, not just the passage of time, had helped bolster the economy, particularly the manufacturing sector.

"This is not a simple cyclical story devoid of policy," he said. "Policy has mattered."

Mr. Obama will continue to make that case during the next several weeks in communities across the country, as he spotlights models for economic success and suggests that Washington is standing in the way of stronger growth.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the right-leaning American Action Forum and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said that while there are signs of economic improvement, that doesn't mean the president has put the country on the right path or that the country can afford what Mr. Obama and his advisers are advocating.

"They really haven't ever come to terms with the fact that their policy agenda is constrained by a budget outlook that's very serious," he said.

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