Right now the NRA is primarily a marketing and sales organization. Sure they do other things like offer gun safety training programs and threaten politicians to push some laws and crush others. But I believe a lot of their power comes from the development and training of their members in communication skills and providing them with the right words, phrases and concepts to achieve their current goal: guns everywhere.

There’s at least a plausible case to be made with this announcement that the Administration is focused on jobs, and considering the weak employment figures, it’s high time. But we shouldn’t throw all regulatory reviews out in the exchange.

Cops and firefighters have traditionally been up-for-grabs or even lean Republican constituencies in America over the past 30 years or so. Bill Clinton gained a lot of goodwill with the COPS program, but Republicans have held their own. But a series of GOP-led anti-union bills in the states, some of which affect public safety personnel in particular, have soured them toward Republicans in a way that could have lasting effects.

We have an infrastructure crisis that will take more than $50 billion in front-loaded seed money to fix. But the President’s economic proposal is a start.