President Barack Obama pushed upon the country his latest "jobs bill." Then he demanded it be passed. His words weren't a direct demand, but when you say it enough times it is implied.

It made me laugh to listen to his presentation. As he read his teleprompters, I thought back to Gen. George Patton as his discussion on how to lead an army. For his example of an army he used a cooked piece of spaghetti. So for my discussion, I shall equate the "jobs bill" to a piece of cooked spaghetti.

The bill was pushed upon us. Have you ever tried to push a piece of cooked spaghetti? It won't go where you want it to, if it moves at all. You have to pull it because the message isn't clear.

If the president was serious about the task at hand, he would have conferred with representatives of small businesses. That would have produced a dry piece of spaghetti. That can be pushed or pulled through because the message is clear and it isn't tangled.

The aim of this speech was to create a dual fallback position. If Vongress doesn't pass his bill he can follow President Harry Truman's lead to a "do-nothing Vongress."

If they pass the bill and it fails - well, misery loves company and this president has never acknowledged taking a wrong step.

Serious? No, politics, politics, politics.

Gen. Patton finished his discussion by saying: "You can't lead from behind."

George Koesters
Gainesville