Where Are The Jobs

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There is mixed news on the economy.  Productivity is up, and that's good, but so are unemployment claims.  And the mixed message bled over again into the politics of the economic crisis even though both sides prayed for bipartisanship.

This is the day democrats go down one seat in the Senate, but they vowed to keep pushing the Obama agenda even as the President asked for divine help.

At the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama asked for the Lord's help, in a city split by politics.

"And in this tower of Babel, we lose the sound of God's voice," said the President.

The economy Thursday was hard to decipher.  Discouragingly, new unemployment claims were up to 480,000, but U.S. productivity rose, and for the right reason.  More goods and services got sold said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

So this is progress.  Its not enough and our priority remains, our priority has to remain, job creation, investment and innovation, Geithner said.  Senate democrats agreed.  Again.

"But with a laser like focus on jobs, because that's what the American people want and need," said democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York.

Still, Senate democrats aren't yet buying the new Obama jobs plan,a tax credit for businesses who hire more workers.  House republicans aren't buying the President's call for bipartisanship.

"Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid are still scheming and plotting to find some way to pass a government takeover of health care," said Republican representative John Boehner of Ohio.

That'll be harder as of Thursday.  Massachusetts' new republican Senator, Scott Brown was swore in meaning democrats lose their filibuster proof majority.  President Obama sounded frustrated.

"But there is a sense that something is different now; that something's broken.  At times, it seems like we're unable to listen to one another," said the President.

But he's vowing to push his agenda.  And Senate democratic leaders say they'll have a new jobs bill Monday, with or without republican help.