Joe Nocera, Aug 2011: We Should Totally Focus on Jobs Now!! With Bipartisanship!

Coming off his recent gaffes, Joe Nocera gives over his column in Saturday's Times to Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, who has an exciting new idea! Boycott campaign contributions! Like this:

The contribution boycott, as Schultz envisions it, would be completely bipartisan; indeed, it would have to be for it to work. Schultz isn’t calling on Washington to come up with solutions that are aligned with his political leanings (which are Democratic). Rather, he wants solutions, agreed to by both parties, that will help get the country back on its feet.

He believes Congress needs to come back from the August recess now, instead of waiting until September. Then, he says, the president and Congress should hammer out a debt deal, which will restore confidence. And finally, and most importantly, they should start focusing “maniacally” on the nation’s most pressing concern: job creation. Once they’ve done that, the boycott would be lifted.

Yes, solutions agreed to by both parties to get the country back on his feet. Not making this up. It's almost as if Schultz and Nocera have not had their eyes open for the last several years. Of course, they have had their eyes open, which makes it all the more scary.

Oh, and we need to push congress and the president to focus more intensely on jobs! Great, where were brave campaigners like Schultz in 2009 again? Not exactly on the barricades pushing for more economic stimulus.

The Times op-ed page has long differentiated itself from so many others by not filling itself with "we just all need to get along" pundits. It's particularly sad that they picked this particular era as a time to hire one.