If the bleak job market doesn’t improve soon, both the country and President Barack Obama will suffer the consequences, says star Democratic strategist James Carville. The country could even end up with citizen uprisings, the man who played a key role in much of former President Bill Clinton’s political success told radio talker Don Imus in an interview simulcast on
Fox Business.
Carville bluntly told Imus: “You know, look — this is a humanitarian — you know, you’re smart enough to see this . . . People, you know, if it continues, we’re going to start to see civil unrest in this country. I hate to say that, but I think it’s imminently possible.”
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The unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent in May, while the economy generated only 54,000 jobs — and statistics indicate that most of them were for starter positions at fast-food giant McDonald’s.
“If 54,000 new jobs a month is the new standard, it will be a very bad 2012 for Obama,” Carville said.
To be sure, the job gains in previous months were higher, and that trend could resume, he said. In addition, Republicans don’t have too much in the way of effective job programs, either, he argues.
In any case, “This is gruesome on people,” Carville said. “It’s a humanitarian crisis of the first magnitude. It’s a terrible thing happening to people’s lives.”
For middle-aged people who have been out of work for say 18 months and are providing for a family, “you’re not same person,” he said. “This is the real tragedy of unemployment. Even if the economy comes back, the prospect of a lot of people finding jobs is not good.”
Obama understands the crisis on one level, Carville said. “But there’s a limit to what he can do.”
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