Jeffrey Baker needs a job. And he’s vocal about it. Baker is the man behind the Buffalo, New York billboard that reads: “Mr. President, I Need a Freakin Job.”

The White House is visiting Buffalo today to tout the President’s “Jobs” initiatives and the “tough choice” President Obama has made to deal with the recession and turn the U.S. economy around. Baker however isn’t buying it. He told reporters yesterday that neither he nor many others in Buffalo feel things are improving. Their sentiments are reinforced by an April Marist Poll that shows 59% of residents in upstate New York believe the economy is getting worse, while only 11% believe it’s getting better. The irony: The jobless rate in Buffalo is 8.6%, lower than the national unemployment rate of 9.9%.

The greater issue here it seems to me is the assumptions in Mr. Baker’s campaign and in the President’s response that the government can in fact create jobs for Mr. Baker and his fellows. It is the private sector, particularly small businesses who create most of the jobs in this country. Government borrowing and spending only inflate the illusion of economic activity.

So, Mr. Baker, stop whining to the President about your personal economic crisis. Yes, it’s a real. But your solution isn’t in what the President does or doesn’t do. Your solution is the Old American “can do” spirit coupled with a reliance of God to bring you new opportunities and to bolster you with the courage and endurance to see those opportunities through the end.

And Mr. Obama, please refrain from promising more than you can or should attempt to deliver. Step out of the way of American business, and take your government with you. Trust the American people and their faith in God to muster the new hope and new opportunities embedded deep in the soil of our souls.

“God, we pray today for all those who need employment. Give them courage to face one more day without a certainty of a job. Give them hope, from you. Help them take their eyes off the illusions of hope, and to turn to you and to the individual gifts you have given them. Give us all the strength to resist turning to other people and to our government for solutions that you want to bring to us, and give us the power and guidance to muster ourselves. We look to you today to be our daily bread, and to provide us with “enough.” This is your promise. You say you will provide. We believe you! And we won’t be turned aside by the false promises of any other… In Jesus we pray.”