President Obama did his best to bring the country together on a broad mission Tuesday night but one can't help wishing he'd simply focused on one single topic: GOOD JOBS. After all, we all know that the REAL asset base that has to be re-built in the US isn't just jobs -- it's well-paying, long-lasting, jobs with benefits.

The President talked about CREDIT being the centerpiece of the US economy. Without credit, Americans couldn't buy cars, he said. But it shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't take a loan for a working American to buy a vehicle. With good enough wages, Americans could
have SAVINGS -- remember those? Once Americans are paid $50 ,000 a year, with healthcare and pensions, regular people - not just millionaires -- could afford mortgages, cars, computers, college education, even a vacation, without going in hock to the loan sharks.

It may be that when he talks about jobs the President is hoping for the real GOOD sort. But it'd be helpful if he said it -- and there's no reason to leave things to chance.

Using public money - and political capital -- to stimulate the economy through something other than (just) tax cuts -- is a step forward, but when it comes to the myth of "Trickle down" economics, we're not out of the woods quite yet with Obama. Ninety percent of
his jobs money goes to private contractors. We all remember the fiasco of private contractors getting public funds to create jobs after Katrina--money wasted, communities left unreconstructed and workers paid bupkiss...Congress could make sure that all that
federal money -- our money -- translates into good jobs now by hiring
directly -- and mandating strict wages and working conditions.

As long as the stimulus is left in the hands only of private contractors, private bankers, and private hospitals we're leaving the power in the same place it's been: In the hands of those who --many of them -- have gotten rich by massively disregarding workers.
Let's hope that forging a new approach will be Labor Secretary Hilda
Solis's first priority.