Obama Pledges New Jobs Drive

Appearing in Schenectady, New York, on Friday alongside GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt, his pick to lead the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, President Obama promised to focus on "putting the economy into overdrive.” That’s an important promise to deliver on, as a recent poll gave Obama low marks on economic progress—just 35 percent of respondents said he has improved the economy. "Our job is to do everything we can to ensure that businesses can take root, and folks can find good jobs," Obama said. “We’re going to build stuff, and invent stuff.” Business interests praised the new role for Immelt; the Chamber of Commerce called the appointment a “promising step” toward creating jobs.