All Things Considered

With unemployment on the rise, members of the political left and right are seeking to advance their own takes on what to do about the economy. In Washington Monday, the AFL-CIO co-hosted a press conference to offer its view. Not far away, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce held its own jobs summit.

With time running out to raise the nation's debt ceiling, President Obama hosted another bargaining session with leaders of Congress Monday. He's trying to persuade both Republicans and Democrats to compromise on a plan to shave trillions of dollars from the federal deficit. "I'm prepared to take on significant heat from my party to get something done. And I expect the other side should be willing to do the same thing, if they mean what they say: that this is important," he said.

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

Well, joining us now to talk about what all of this means is NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Hi, Mara.

MARA LIASSON: Hi, Robert.

SIEGEL: What's happening here? Is all this theater or did today's dueling news conferences actually serve some purpose?

Amy Dickinson describes the incident that makes her think of the sound of shovels penetrating hard dirt as part of our series Summer Sounds. Her dad once forced Amy, her sisters and a cousin to dig in the hot summer sun in the fruitless pursuit of saving a crop.

We’re still 16 months way from the 2012 election. But this is the prime time for challengers to begin their campaigns - which is exactly what three Democrats have done recently for state congressional seats.