David Axelrod, President Barack Obama's top political adviser, took to the airwaves this morning and claimed that none of last night's participants in the GOP presidential debate offered ideas on how to create jobs. Granted, none of them waved a stack of papers containing an unaffordable stimulus plan in front of the cameras, but all of them brought reality to the discussion by affirming that government does not create jobs it can only destroy them. That's a fact that the president and his cronies desperately hope the majority of the voting public doesn't understand.

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The truth is that virtually every idea articulated last night, whether it was on tax reform, regulatory reform, the Federal Reserve, Obamacare or any of the other major issues debated, was an idea to create an economic environment that fosters job creation. Some examples:

Representative Michele Bachmann: "We've got $1.2 trillion already that's been earned by American countries overseas. If we have a 0 percent tax rate, Wolf, we can bring that 1.2 trillion - it's called repatriation - bring that in. You'd have 1.2 trillion flooded into the system, then pass the free trade agreements so that we can move the economy, permanently lower the tax code. I'm a federal tax lawyer. I know how to do that. Repeal Dodd-Frank, repeal Obamacare."

Businessman Herman Cain: "I would put together a regulatory reduction commission for every agency starting with the EPA. This regulatory reduction commission - one of my guiding principles is if you want to solve a problem go to the source closest to the problem. So the people that I would appoint to that commission will be people who have been abused by the EPA. That would be the commission that would straighten out the regulatory burden."

Former Governor Jon Huntsman: "We cannot go forward with Dodd-Frank, because businesses in this country are saying there's no predictability, there's no ability to see around the bend, we don't know what costs are going to be, we're not hiring and bringing new people on."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich: "I think trying to raise the tax on working Americans in the middle of the Obama depression is a destructive policy. So I don't want to have any tax increase at any level for anyone. I want to shrink government to fit income, not raise income to try to catch up with government."

Governor Rick Perry: "There's still a land of freedom in America, freedom from over-taxation, freedom from over-litigation and freedom from over-regulation, and it's called Texas. We need to do the same thing for America."

Former Governor Mitt Romney: "Well, my own view is that, quite simply, that the Federal Reserve has a responsibility to preserve the value of our currency, to have a strong American currency, such that investors and people who are thinking about bringing enterprises to this country have confidence in the future of America and in our currency. People will not invest in this country and create jobs in this country for the American people if they don't have belief in our currency. Of course we should see what the Fed is doing. There should be some oversight to make sure that it's - it's acting properly"

Former Senator Rick Santorum: "What the American people want is a policy that's going to get people the opportunity to rise in society, to fill that great middle of America, and that is manufacturing jobs. That's why my plan takes the corporate tax, which is 35 percent, cuts it to zero, and says, if you manufacture in America, you aren't going to pay any taxes. We want you to come back here. We want you to have 'Made in America' stamped on your product."

Of course the format of a television debate does not allow for detailed plans on how each candidate would implement these ideas (most have provided those details in speeches, books and on their campaign websites). But the format did allow participants to demonstrate their grasp of these basic truths:

• Government cannot create the quantity of jobs needed in this country.
  
  
• Government can and currently does hinder job creation.
  
  
• As president, each of them would work to eliminate those hindrances.
  
  
• As president, each would work to implement policies that encourage job creation in the private sector.

Meanwhile, Mr. Axelrod and his boss believe raising taxes and spending another $447 billion in government spending will create jobs despite the fact that their last stimulus bill cost over $800 billion and failed to keep the unemployment rate under 8% as promised. That certainly explains why Team Obama is so desperately trying to perpetuate the lies that more government can solve the unemployment problem and that the GOP candidates offer no alternative.