Obama's Futile Job Tour

This article concerns Obama's attempt to pass the American Jobs Act, an attempt to ease the unemployment  problem in America. In particular, the act involves providing $30 billion to hire or keep teachers, police officers and fire fighters. The money would be obtained by taxes on the wealthy. Personally, I think it seems like a good idea. After all, I think we've all seen first hand that we need more money for teachers. Hanover High School has less teachers every year, and as a result we have less choices for classes we want to take. The fact that police officers and firefighters are losing their jobs, which I did not know was a problem, is also concerning. According to the article, firefighters are even closing stations down because they can't afford to have so many. To me, that seems unacceptable. I understand that raising taxes is never fun, but I don't think giving tax breaks to America's wealthiest citizens makes sense either. I think it's clear that something needs to be done, and we need to get the money somewhere. Raising taxes on working families who are already struggling doesn't make any sense to me. Taxing people who can afford it does.
The article's purpose, however, was not to persuade readers to support the idea. The article was saying that the act will not be passed, because Republicans in Congress will definitely shut it down. However, the article was pretty clear that it thought Obama's ideas made sense. The article convinced me of that too, using the stories of teachers, policemen, and firemen to show how desperately we need change. The article also convinced me that politics are getting in the way of progress. If Republicans shut down all of Obama's moves, and Obama doesn't let any Republican bills pass, we won't get anywhere. Personally, I think governments have been most efficient when one party was in control, because that party can do whatever it wants without interference. Regardless of which strategy we use for solving today's problems, we need to start doing something immediately. In cases like these, I think the balance between parties in government can be a bad thing, because they only serve to stop the other parties from accomplishing anything.
The article raised the question: Why is Obama pushing this plan if it is destined to fail? The article believes it is simply a political move. If Obama can say "I tried to create jobs, but the Republicans stopped me," in the next election, it will help him. However, regardless of the motives behind it, I think the attempt to create jobs was a good thing, and we need to start actually making things happen.

Article: http://www.salon.com/2011/10/20/can_the_gop_be_embarrassed_on_jobs/