The Obama Diary

Washington Post: Republicans in Washington have little love for President Obama’s jobs plan and his proposal to pay for it. But the president may find a warmer reception from Republicans governing on the local level.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors – a bipartisan national group for mayors of major cities – has openly embraced the American Jobs Act, with key Republican mayors offering high praise for the president’s infrastructure spending plan. And the group has come to Washington this week to press that point upon Congress, the White House, and the supercommittee.

Mick Cornett, the GOP mayor of Oklahoma City, welcomes the infrastructure spending that Obama has proposed in his jobs bill, explaining that mayors witness the impact of such investments on the ground level. “Mayors see up close the deferred maintenance that’s going on in nation’s cities … it’s just a ticking time bomb. We also know that it puts people to work,” he says.

Obama’s jobs plan proposes new infrastructure spending on everything from rebuilding schools to an infrastructure finance bank – all of which Cornett supports. “We need to be working on all of these really big picture items that are generational.”

….Cornett is skeptical that Obama’s jobs plan will be able to pass. But he credits the Obama administration for being far more receptive than the previous White House to hearing out the concerns of city leaders on the local level …. “There are a lot of things that government doesn’t do well. One of things that government does do well is build stuff,” he concludes.

Full article here