God Supports Obama's Jobs Bill! (Or Does He?)

In an article headlined Obama: God backs jobs plan, AFP is reporting:

The president rebuked the House of Representatives for passing a bill reaffirming the US motto “In God We Trust” rather than getting to work on his stalled $447 billion jobs program.

“That’s not putting people back to work. I trust in God, but God wants to see us help ourselves by putting people back to work,” the president said.

Hmmm. Think he went to far in that?

Obama’s spokesman Jay Carney denied that Obama had perhaps gone too far by dragging the Almighty into a fierce political spat.

Well, okay then.

“I believe that the phrase from the Bible is ‘the Lord helps those who help themselves,’” Carney said.

Um, no. Actually it’s not from the Bible.

“I think the point the president is making is that, you know, we have it within our capacity to do the things to help the American people.”

Sure we do. But is the way to do that letting the government spend nearly half a trillion more dollars of taxpayer money or by getting the government out of the way so that the private sector isn’t afraid to invest and create jobs naturally?

The White House was later forced to clarify however that the phrase Carney used, though often mistaken for scripture, was not in fact biblical.

Told ya.

Obama ruffled Republican feathers with his remarks as he appeared in front of a commuter bridge between Washington DC and Virginia, which is in need of repairs, to call on Republicans to back a $60 billion jobs and infrastructure bill.

“There’s no good reason to oppose this bill, not one. And members of Congress who do, who vote no, are going to have to explain why to their constituencies,” Obama said.

Really? There’s not one good reason to oppose the idea of letting the present administration spend another half a trillion dollars of taxpayer money given it’s recent abysmal job creation record? I wonder what the opposition says?

They [Republicans] said Obama’s policies would also result in increased taxes on small businesses that would hamper growth and job creation, reflecting the fierce ideological divides cleaving Washington.

Yeah, I thought that’s what they’d say.

Okay, so let’s talk about whether an American president (or any politician) should be citing God’s support for particular political measures. If a measure were implementing a non-negotiable moral value—e.g., banning abortion, homosexual “marriage,” euthanasia, human cloning, etc.—then sure, I could see hauling out the “Deus, lo vult!”

But when we’re talking about something as debatable as the best way to create jobs, should a politician be citing God’s support for his policies, even in the admittedly rather general way Obama did?

What do you think?

Should Obama Claim God’s Support for His Jobs Bill?
—Yes! Its perfectly legitimate for the president to cite God’s support for this bill.
—The bill may not be perfect, but it’s good enough to cite God supporting it in a general way.
—I’m not sure/don’t have strong feelings.
—Whatever its merits, he should not cite God for something this debatable.
—No! But he could say that it’s backed by the devil.
—Present.
  
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