Mark Kirk On Obama Jobs Speech: For Bipartisan Support, Give John Boehner A Preview (VIDEO)

Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk defended President Obama's jobs speech scheduled for Thursday in light of 8th District Rep. Joe Walsh's announcement that he would skip it, but encouraged the president to share its contents with House Speaker John Boehner to set a tone for bipartisanship.

"I will be in the chamber, because you have to respect the office," the Highland Park resident said, according to NBC Chicago. "Even if you campaigned against the current office holder, you respect the office and the role of the joint session is in the Constitution."

Kirk, who has developed a list of nearly two dozen economic policies he believes will get "huge majorities" in Congress, recommended that Obama give the Republican Speaker a preview of the jobs plan he will outline to foster a sense of bipartisan cooperation, he told WGN.

“I hope procedurally what the president does in the next two days, he brings the speaker in and does a kind of a preview and works with him some, because you’ve got to listen to what the American people said in 2008 and 2010," Kirk told the Chicago Tribune. "They elected a divided government. The point is to get something done."

Kirk, who is also a U.S. Naval intelligence officer, recently returned from a two-week deployment in Afghanistan with a bold proposition as part of his economic policy arsenal calling for an immediate end to U.S. aid to Pakistan, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Kirk also took a position on the U.S. Postal Services $9.2 billion deficit, saying he doesn't think they will "close this winter or close at all" but declining to offer suggestions to combat the deficit, the Daily Herald reports.

In the meantime, he plans to take many notes on Thursday's speech, Kirk told the Daily Herald.

Watch Kirk's defense of President Obama and comments on the jobs speech:

View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.

Comments

[oceana6695]

12:02 AM on 09/08/2011

Why can't the Republicans run someone like this?

[Spock]

08:11 AM on 09/08/2011

Kirk is not an improvement.

[EricProgDem]

08:47 PM on 09/07/2011

Oh, BTW, can we recall that idiot Joe Walsh? I still can't believe he's my rep. What a clown!

[anothervoter]

06:54 PM on 09/07/2011

Ha!

Isn't he the guy who lied about some military award he received?

[WhatWereTheyThinking]

10:31 PM on 09/07/2011

Yes, a "war hero."

[fgrammit]

05:51 PM on 09/07/2011

yeah so instead of the house listening to the president ,the POTUS has to kiss up to john boenher? THINK NOT

[Steve Conroy]

03:30 PM on 09/07/2011

Kirk is my senator and that is bad enough. Thank God I don't live in the district represented by Dead Beat Dad Walsh. For those that do have him as a rep, sorry 'bout "ya.

[Pembrokelib]

11:46 AM on 09/07/2011

One of the first Republicans who is reasonable and sane. Thank you, Mr. Kirk. I wish that there were more men of integrity like you. I hope that your Party does not disown you. I commend you. Dare I hope that this is the beginning of reasonable discourse?

[Linda Everett Logan]

10:45 AM on 09/07/2011

Thank you for a voice of reason.

[Ravyn]

10:34 AM on 09/07/2011

Kirk's comments about the USPS's future solvency remind me of Michelle Bachmann's comments during debt ceiling debates about the possibility of the U.S. getting downgraded from it's then AAA rating by the ratings agencies.

[bowloforanges]

11:15 PM on 09/06/2011

Is this some kind of a joke?

[BluebirdofUnhappiness]

09:57 PM on 09/06/2011

Kirk, who also told China, not to believe the U.S...
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/rep-mark-kirk-r-il-i-told-china-not-to-believe-us-budget-numbers.php

[ckdogs]

09:31 PM on 09/06/2011

I wish I could believe that Kirk was being a stateman. I would have so much respect for him. But, as others have posted, showing Boehner the speech ahead of time would be disastrous, because there is no trust. Obama thought he had an agreement on the debt ceiling, and then Boehner pulled out the rug. He also thought Boehner was okay with a Wed. night speech, and got rolled.
It would be nice to believe Kirk, but at this point in time, I don't.

[ponderonit101]

12:46 PM on 09/08/2011

Boehner would publish President Obama's speech so fast it would make your head swim. The Republicans would have a book of criticisms ready by 7:00 tonight.

[mamala4]

09:18 PM on 09/06/2011

This man has never held a job outside of government...he has no idea what the real world is all about....he is a puppet, and a incompetent one at that.

[antonymous]

10:34 PM on 09/06/2011

I grew up in Kirk's Congressional district. It's almost entirely a bedroom community that included the ritzy North Shore and the middle manager-stuffed Northwest Suburbs. "Real world" is not a phrase that comes to mind when describing the area.

[mamala4]

07:44 AM on 09/07/2011

I LIVE in the district he was elected to represent but did NOTHING for, yet we are not part of the ritzy north shore, nor middle management. The Howdy-Doody lookalike is an embarrassment to this area, and I cannot comprehend how he ever got elected.

[Mochilero]

09:17 PM on 09/06/2011

Beware a Trojan Horse.

[mamala4]

09:10 PM on 09/06/2011

Mark Kirk is a puppet of Cantor, Boehner, et al.

[fredvh]

09:01 PM on 09/06/2011

Give the speaker the details so he, cantor, rush, faux news and the rest can bash it and put out their misinformation about it early?