Cut Throat

The midterms approach and the jobs situation gets worse and worse. What will President Barack Obama do now? Perhaps a massive new Federal jobs program dedicated to rebuilding our schools, roads, bridges, libraries, energy and water grids, subways; dedicated to preserving the great old American houses and squares and parks of our national past; or building handsome and balanced cities for our future.

(As promised in '07 and '08.)

No, this.

With just two months until the November elections, the White House is seriously weighing a package of business tax cuts - potentially worth hundreds of billions of dollars - to spur hiring and combat Republican charges that Democratic tax policies hurt small businesses, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations.

Administration officials have struggled to develop new economic policies and an effective message to blunt expected Republican gains in Congress and defuse complaints from Democrats that President Obama is fumbling the issue most important to voters. Following Obama's vacation and focus on foreign policy in recent weeks, White House advisers have arranged a series of economic events for the president next week, including two trips to swing states and a news conference.