Dawidziak: On jobs, Wash. must do better

Michael Dawidziak is a political consultant and pollster.

'He doesn't get it. He'll never get it. It's been 4 hours. The cows can tape something by now!" Thus was Bruno Kirby's response to Billy Crystal trying to teach Daniel Stern to program a VCR in the movie "City Slickers." Americans are probably having the same reaction to our leaders in Washington and their efforts to address the country's unemployment rate.

President Barack Obama's proposed job-creation bill and the Republican congressional response badly miss the mark. The president and congressional leaders have said they believe small and mid-size companies will create the high-tech, good-paying jobs that America needs. They've demonized Wall Street and the banks while extolling the virtues of -- and the need to help -- the hardworking companies on Main Street. But they need to back up the rhetoric.

There are some good things in the president's bill: The proposed reduction in Social Security taxes for workers and employers would be welcome relief. The tax incentives for hiring veterans and the long-term unemployed are good and long-overdue ideas. Closing tax loopholes on major companies to help raise needed revenue is also a fair and commonsense measure. Small to mid-size businesses have been patriotically paying the second-highest corporate tax rate in the world (35 percent), while major corporations like Exxon Mobil, Google and FedEx find ways to pay very little, and in some cases almost no, corporate taxes.

But the way the president is promoting the bill illustrates its shortcomings. Surrounded by teachers and municipal unions, he's trying to make the case that stimulus spending -- $447 billion worth -- can still work, and that protecting public jobs is a priority. In the context of 9/11 remembrances, including first responders in his speeches is a shrewd tactic. But notice: Creating private-sector jobs not paid for by taxpayers has taken a backseat. Emphasizing the public sector is a tough sell to an American public that largely feels the last round of stimulus spending did too little.

The Republican response has been even more disappointing. Unwilling to give Obama any advantage going into next year's election, they've put the spin cycle in overdrive. It's a dangerous game. Polls show that the GOP congressional leadership is more unpopular than Obama, even with his sagging approval ratings. Tagged as the party of big business, the GOP needs to put substantive proposals on the table that will lead to private-sector growth. Just being a bunch of naysayers looking for political advantage in the Democrats' failure won't cut it with an electorate demanding action.

But the president and Congress might not be the only ones who don't get it. The immediate analysis of the jobs speech last Thursday centered on Wall Street's reaction. You could hardly escape the news that U.S. and global markets fell from 2 percent to 4 percent in the wake of the address. Shouldn't we care more about what Main Street thinks about the jobs plan?

This is all too relevant on Long Island, where nine out of 10 companies employ fewer than 20 people. We are Main Street. And Main Street has some commonsense ideas that wouldn't cost the taxpayers a dime and would help grow private sector jobs.

Here are just a few: Compel banks to restore corporate credit lines to small business back to pre-economic meltdown levels; pass regulations that, as buildings and machinery need to be replaced, it must be done with green technology; put reasonable limits on how long municipalities that control zoning and land use can take to approve or disapprove of projects; fast-track the part of health care reform that will allow smaller companies to pool together to buy health insurance (now scheduled to go into effect in 2014).

But nobody's asking us.