Last week President Obama held a Jobs Summit.

Minority leadership, that is Congressional Republicans, did not attend because they were not invited. They should have been.

After all, as the president said he “sees corporate recovery without job growth.” Obama was right to describe that projected situation as “a struggle that cuts deep” but wrong to not include all elected congressional leaders on the Jobs Summit invitation list.

Obama has known since before taking office that job growth would lag economic growth at whatever point in time the recession bottoms out and recovery actually begins. Now, the reality that actual job losses have been much worse than he forecast — over 10 million unemployed versus the administration saying it would not go higher than 8 million — has been both a political embarrassment and a prospective Achilles heel for fellow Democrats during next year’s mid-term elections, and potentially for himself in 2012.

No doubt, those political worries prompted the president to initiate new spin with the following statement during a pre-summit media interview: “… the steep decline in jobs was a lot worse than any economist modeled at the beginning of the year.” It may be the president has been listening to the wrong economists?

Obama understands the economy can make him a one-term president. And, for those who want to work, unemployment is very personal. High levels of unemployment mean high numbers of upset citizens; and, upset people are sure to vote.

Given that reported unemployment is 25 percent higher than Obama previously forecast means even employed voters may move away from him and other Democrats. That’s cause for worry.

Or, as the president said, again in the pre-summit interview, “… my greatest fear, is we don’t close the gap.” That’s understandable for Obama and his political supporters.

But, more important than “close(ing) the gap” between the administration’s unemployment projection and the more than 10 million Americans currently unemployed is the very real need to promote private job creation for all those who actually want to work.

Political motivation aside, calling a Job Summit is a good idea. What is disappointing is the Obama administration’s lack of willingness to include all congressional leadership. Also disappointing was some of the narrow self-serving idea input from invited participants. Here is an example offered in response to the president’s question: “How do we get businesses to start hiring again?”

•Airplane manufacturer Boeing was represented by CEO James McNerney, who suggested “more government support for small businesses to aid those who supply the parts for his jumbo jets.”

•Disney CEO Bob Iger reportedly “pushed for easing immigration policies” apparently to make it easier for tourists to visit and spend money in the United States.

•Labor’s James Hoffa was critical of “government trade policies that undermine U.S. workers.”

Same old stale, stuck-in-the-mud posturing. Nothing insightful suggested, nothing reflective of new innovative thinking. That’s sad. It may also be yet another indication why many of America’s major corporations are languishing. Still, there is a bit of good news to share with you.

There was one attendee at the Jobs Summit who got it right when he spoke up. That was FedEx CEO Frederick Smith, who called for “lowering the corporate tax rate.” Smith said “Our corporate tax rate is simply not competitive.”

Then, characteristic of a leader, Fred Smith boldly continued “It (our corporate tax structure) advantages financial services at the expense of industry”.

That’s more than an idea; it’s a course to follow that also happens to be time-tested and true.

If President Obama gets it, he will accept his own campaign slogan and immediately change course and dramatically cut spending, the corporate, personal and estate tax rates as well as regulations and the size of government.

Those are the deep cuts necessary to overcome our economic struggle.

Richard Olivastro is president of Olivastro Communications, a professional member of the National Speakers Association and founder of Citizens For Change. He can be reached at Rich@Olivastro.NET or 877.RichSpeaks.