You've been punk'd

In his umpteenth pivot towards jobs, President Barack Obama spoke out on Sept. 8, forcefully telling Congress they should "pass this bill," referring to the American Jobs Act. Little did the president know that the "American Jobs Act" would soon be a Republican bill filed by Texas Congressman and Aggie, Louie Gohmert. This move was the political equivalent of Ashton Kutcher frolicking up to the president to say, "You've just been punk'd.

Americans first heard of the president's new jobs plan shortly before his vacation in Martha's Vineyard. The president urged Congress 17 times to "pass this bill" in one form or another (my favorite being, "Pass this jobs bill, and starting tomorrow...").  The only problem: there was no bill.

On Sept. 9 at the University of Richmond, President Obama declared 18 times that this bill needed to be passed. Still no bill.

In the White House Rose Garden on Sept. 12, Obama told us to pass this bill 12 times, as he assured us, "I'm sending this bill to Congress today, and they ought to pass it immediately." Still no bill.

Two days later at North Carolina State, Obama urged supporters to pass this bill 24 times. It's important because "There's work to be done. There are workers ready to do it. Let's pass this jobs bill right away and let's get it done." After all, "we could pass this thing, but we need Congress to help us do it." Still no bill.

From the presidents 961st day in office to his 967th day in office, he advocated at least 71 times for a non-existent "American Jobs Act" to be passed.

Enter Congressman Gohmert, fightin' Texas Aggie class of 1975 and former student body president of Texas A&M.

On Sept. 14, Gohmert did what President Obama claimed to have done days earlier and actually filed a bill under the name the "American Jobs Act."

Gohmert's plan is a modest two pages, with two action items: repeal the corporate income tax and repeal the alternative minimum tax.

Gohmert's stunt succinctly displays how disingenuous this administration is.

The president's projected message was, "I have a plan that Congress isn't passing."

The reality was that our president was promoting a jobs initiative that didn't exist and doing so in a way that, intentional or not, implied Congress was delaying the legislation.

Gohmert did us all a service by pointing out our president's sad lack of honesty.

Mr. President, you've just been punk'd.

Taylor Wolken is a senior economics major and opinion editor at The Battalion.

*Clarification: Harry Reid did submit legislation to the Senate under the name, "The American Jobs act of 2011" which was introduced on September 13. A Democrat version of the bill has not yet been introduced to the House where Gohmert serves. A bill cannot become law until it passes both the House and Senate.