Gallup: President Obama Has Upper Hand in Stimulus Debate

I hope those losers in the Republican party are taking note. They think they can fight this President, but the American people have spoken.

I encourage everyone to look at the benefits the stimilus will have on your state if passed. Obama is doing a great job of keeping the people informed on what change will look like. Keep up the good work.

Look at the parts of the stimulus package that were cut people; school construction? Food Stamps? Head Start? As always, it’s the working people, the ones struggling the most who the GOP wants to eliminate help for – heartless, cruel and ignorant – this is why Democrats should not worry about the GOP anymore, they are worse then irrelevant, they are hopeless.

I don’t believe those statistics for one minute. You should just ask do you approve of the Stimulus Package as it stands right now? I work with many democrats and have numerous debates during the election. They are very disapointed with the way Obama is handling thie stimlulus.

Welcome to socialism.
We made history.

Once again, the Washington echo chamber (which, for the past week or so, has been pushing quite a different storyline) has no idea what’s happening out here in the rest of the country. Thank God for polls like Gallup to inform “the elites” in DC as to what’s really happening.

Obama puts terrorists ahead of Americans.
Research Obama’s 2nd day in office.
Amen.

At least the House and Senate are taking the time to discuss the bill. The bailout vote a couple of months ago was passed through too fast.
This is how our government was meant to work. Checks and balances.

“Obama puts terrorists ahead of Americans.”
…
As Ace Ventura once said, allllllrighty then.

I have never seen such an arrogant self absorbed person.Obama is trying to bankrupt this country so he can turn us into a socialized country. Wake up people before it’s too late. He dropped charges on the murderer that bombed the ship COLE. DROPPED CHARGES!This man is a danger to us and our freedom.Watch the truth on FNC. The other channels are not going to tell you what is really going on.Listen people just listen. This so called leader is leading us to our death.

Once this thing passes, it’s going to be a ticking time bomb for our country. Remember when they had the running financial figures during the presidential campaigns on the cost of the Iraq War to date? Well, guess what? When the public finally wakes up and realizes that this bill just cost them MORE money than the Afghanistan AND Iraq Wars have SINCE 2003 COMBINED and that in one swift vote we’ve mortgaged the opportunities of our future generations, the devil will have his day. Does anybody understand that? You think it is bad today, wait 10 years from now. Our country WON’T be in a Depression tomorrow or next week regardless of what the administration would have you believe. It is NOT necessary that we pass this bill so quickly, but really figure out the way ahead in a deliberate, more methodical manner. For once, government should stop trying to scare us, take a breath and think about what they are doing in what could become the most important legislative issue of this CENTURY. This isn’t about DEM or REPUBLICAN. This isn’t about which side is right or wrong! Who cares about such shallow arguments. This is about us, the US citizen and our families and future families having to flip the bill in the HOPE that it will be successful. Forgive me if I’m not overly enthusiastic when even DEMS who voted for this bill are only 70% sure that this it is the right course of action. The President, however, more concerned about his ego and meeting his self-imposed timeline, is going to rush this thing down our throats. For what? To save face? Are you kidding me? That being the case, in his first major legislative act, he may very well have destroyed our country’s future for the next 50 years. I really hope that if this thing gets changed again, those Republicans will jump ship. Maybe then, even if it means the President getting a little egg on his face, we can all step back, take a moment and really think what needs to be done.

We found out on Nov.4th how clueless and in denial the majority of Americans are about Obama.
So this poll isn’t surprising.

“This so called leader is leading us to our death.”
OH NOEZ!!, hide the small children and puppies! We’re all gonna DIIEEEE!
(Melodramatic much?)

Most of the negative comments about Obama are so far off base that they would be funny if they weren’t so very sad in thier distorted perception of reality.

Oh, by the way, TexasBorn. This Country is already bankrupt!! Obama isn’t going to make it any worse. And you can thank your fellow Texan, George W. Bush for the economic mess we are in.

I have no idea why the GOP is intent on marginalizing itself. I had thought there was no way Republicans would lose in 2010 because the Democrats would infight and people would tire of their agenda. However, it seems that Republicans have found the only possible way to lose the 2010 elections – cling to failed politics and policies of the past 8 years. It’s time to grow up and move on and propose new ideas. Seriously, there’s no way tax cuts alone are going to work because people aren’t spending their money. That leaves government to prime the pump (unfortunately). If you don’t like it, then go buy something! Prices are cheap for now! For the life of me I don’t understand people – they spend money they don’t have on things they don’t need when prices are high. Then when prices are low they save their money. I can understand if you don’t have money, but if you do then what are you waiting for? Prices to go up again?
I’m really thinking the FDIC increase to $250,000 needs to be lowered back to $100,000 and force people to do something with their money. The purpose was to keep people from making a run on banks and we (may) be past that stage now…

From what I’ve seen there’s maybe a few billion dollars in “porky” stuff in the Senate version of the bill. Miniscule relative to the bill itself and the problem is one man’s pork is another man’s stimulus. I think the key determinates should be whether the spent dollar creates jobs and how quickly it will be spent (the sooner the better).

Can anyone here honestly explain how this stimulus package is suppose to create wealth? Is it suppose to work short term or long term? Have any of you actually seen what’s in the legislation?
I voted for Obama as a moderate independent because I trust his careful, deliberate approach to issues and his gift for persuasion. But in my 37 years, I’ve never seen government successful at creating wealth. That’s typically the business of the private sector. In all likelihood, this package may be passed as hastily as TARP and will have no signifcant effect aside from raising the federal deficit.
We had a short term shift in public sympathy to the right after 911 and the Republicans took advantage of that only to bury themselves 8 years later due to mistaken self-assurance about their ideology. Aren’t the Democrats doing the same under a presumed leftist mandate from the 2008 elections? It’s oversimplification to assume that ONLY Republican policies got us into the current economic mess.

Obama is already trying to blame the projected failure of his pork bill on the Republicans.
Saying it will fail because it isn’t big enough-because Repubs cut too much out of the pork bill.
He knows it will fail–and as usual Obama blames his failure on someone else.

For all of you saying that this is the start of socialism need to stop listening to the fear monger Rush. It is funny how Bush giving money to banks is not socialism, but Obama trying to jumpstart job creation is. Or is the difference the fact that Obama is going to hold the companies getting the money to be accountable for how it is spent, while Bush let the companies remodel their offices for over $1M, take ‘reward’ trips, and buy new corporate jets?
Yes, there were things in the bill that would not have created jobs or created relief for people directly. However, a lot of that has been cut, and some of the positive portions too. If someone is badly bleeding, you don’t worry about the perfect solution to stop the bleeding at first. You slow it down and then see what else can be done to stop the bleeding completely. We need something right now to slow down the downward spiral our economy is in. Then the Congress can work on more permanent fixes.

All of those people worried about Obama and socialism need to refresh themselves with the history of their own party. To combat a 4% inflation instead of the normal 3% inflation Nixon tried to institute a wage freeze for the entire country and succeeded in varying degrees. That is much more socialist by far then anything Obama is doing. The free market is solely for making money, not for the benefit of people in this nation. Too much focus has always been on short term cash instead of long term slow growth that would actually be stable.

harry – since when does Obama blame his “failures” on someone else?? Didn’t he take full blame for Daschle’s nomination which fell through? What else has he tried to blame on others. He’s a bigger man than Bush ever was!!

It’s beyond belief that a political party, i.e., the Republicans, would wish for the destruction of the United States to attempt to win an election in 2010. This just shows what morally bankrupt, cowards they are, and we cannot let them get away with it. Write your representative today to proclaim your support for President Obama’s stimulus package with the vast amounts of spending needed to right our economy. Then, remind the Republicans that they allowed George W. Bush to double the federal deficit from 4.5 Trillion Dollars to 10.5 Trillion Dollars over a period of 8 years. And, also remind the Republicans that they allowed George W. Bush to fight two wars on borrowed money. I can’t think of anything as wasteful as that nonsense. Further, it’s hard to imagine anyone accusing President Obama of dividing the country, when he did everything possible to listen to Republicans and their ideas. Of course, no one could expect President Obama to give into the same old ideas, i.e., tax cuts are the panacea for everything, when George W. Bush’s massive tax cuts just about destroyed our great country. Keep it up you in the G.O.P., and the people will know who’s responsible for the destruction of our great country. It’ll be brutal when the people vote in 2010 to fill the seats of the 5 Republican Senators, who are retiring.

I despise George Bush and the Cabal that put him in office. I especially despise the Republicans who rubber stamped every cockamamie idea the fool had, destroying our economy, getting us into what seems to be an endless war, and just general foolishness like raiding the treasury for his rich friends to the tune of $2.2 trillion in tax cuts while he spent about that much on his pretty little wars.
I despise the foul mouthed Rush Limbaughs who twist and turn the truth into lies and lies into truth. They played a role in creating this mess. I despise the supply side economics that put us into the great depression, the reagan recession and the Bush bailout. All of it was preventable and predictable.
Now comes Obama. Another fool. He is beyond description in his evil and foolish ways and friends. The Kennedys, the Pelosis, the Emaluels, the Chicago cesspool from which he came, all are things I despise.
The screeching by both sides of this fiasco that we call a United States Government and the two political parties has reached a fever pitch on each side. Both sides are WRONG!
Until and unless WE the People wake up and take charge outside the two piles of manure that are constantly spread as political rhetoric by the two political parties: this nation is doomed to constant turmoil and eventually, to massive national failure.
I refuse to participate in the back and forth name calling that is constantly used to justify one or the other’s excesses or failures. George Bush was everything, is everything, his detractors say he is. So is Kennedy, Obama, and Pelosi.
The only hope we have of fixing this nasty, boggdown, horrendous mess is for those of us who see the truth to step outside party loyalties and stand up for what is right for our nation. THERE IS A BETTER WAY, NEITHER PARTY HAS REALIZED THAT FOR FAR TOO LONG.

It’s amazing how pelosi and boxer can talk about how their going to fix this mess, when their state is bankrupt,and who’s the blame for that. That’s why they like the pork. You fools can keep following them.

This is not about parties it is about out Country’s independence and capitalism. This is affecting all of us. Not the Democrats of the Republicans, it’s not about that.We are talking about the people of this Country as one and what we are allowing to happen to us and our Children and Grandchildren. Everyone is quite aware of who won the election.

The dems know that this bill will not do what their hoping,you heard biden’s statement. He’s trying to cover their butt, so they can say that in 2010, which is really all the dems are concern about,keeping their job, not doing what is right.

“Because there has been massive government spending in the last few years.”
Yeah, and much of that spending has been in IRAQ. And the Republicans had no problem with that. Maybe we should spend some on our own country to try to lift us out of this recession.

I had the perfect solution for our ecomony! They should have gave every american 1 million dollars (this would be alot less then the 800 billion they gave out to the banks) and then just imagine what our ecomony would be like. The stores, car dealers, mortgage companys and everything would have to hire people because everyone would buy things. The banks would be busy with people putting money in the banks and buying stocks. That is the perfect. It would be alot less fallible then us giving it to the people they did.

Yeah, and much of that spending has been in IRAQ. And the Republicans had no problem with that. Maybe we should spend some on our own country to try to lift us out of this recession.
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Some of the spending was in Iraq.
Even taking Iraq out, spending increased enormously under Bush. Farm bills, transportation bills, medicare part d, a stimulus bill last March– all enormous spending right here in the US.

Enoughalready
You are absolutly right. There is no perfect leader and no perfect solutions to fixing our economy.We do have to take responsibility for what is going to happen to us. I don’t want my children working hard everyday just for the fat cats in Washington to live in luxury and extravagance. We pay them for taking care of our money. We have trusted them to do the right thing and they have not and it is just getting worse. We need to stand up for what is right for us.

Maybee wrote:
“Could you please tell me when this “tax cuts alone” stuff happened? Because there has been massive government spending in the last few years.
This is more spending, and it isn’t anything new.“
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Yes Bush gave tax cuts to wealthy people and big companies when he first took office. Did you not hear Obama say he is going to reverse those tax breaks on the campaign trail?
Thats what he called the trickle down economics.

Which kind of proves the point that Republicans had NO PROBLEM with spending when it was under Pres. Bush, n’est-ce pas?
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The Republicans who had no problem spending under Bush have largely been voted out of office by their constituents or had to retire (Delay, Hastert, Frist, Stevens).
Those who remain were voted in on promises of fiscal restraint.
As was Obama.

“They should have gave every american 1 million dollars (this would be alot less then the 800 billion they gave out to the banks)”
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And when are you going to pay that money back?
Lets not kid ourselves. That bailout money is not for free. Its a loan. The government cannot loan you the money directly that`s why they are giving it to the banks to loan it to you.

MIKE C
And yes they are stripping the Bill,Stripping it of Education,And Money for the States for Police, Fire Etc. The so called PORK Republicans like to call Education, Police, And state programs are Being srtipped and Republicans are trying to add more TAX CUTS Their same old sorry tired failed Policies.I welcome your Debate

KRISTA
No since in trying to talk with people from TEXAS Their beloved BUSH Has them Intoxicated on the Fear monger Juice! TEXAS-BUSH GET IT!

But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed … when the roar of the crowd fades away … when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot – what exactly is our opponent’s plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he’s done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger … take more of your money … give you more orders from Washington … and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy … our opponent is against producing it.”
Obama’s inexperience and and mixed-up priorities are sticking out like a sore thumb, and not without notice:
Now, the words of his former rivals are returning to haunt President Obama. After a distinctly rocky start to his presidency, he has admitted he “screwed up” and is returning to one thing in his political career that he has perfected – campaigning. In Elkhart, Indiana, today and Fort Myers, Florida, tomorrow, Mr Obama will try to seize back control of the political agenda with question-and-answer sessions with voters in two of the swing states that gave him victory.
Already, however, he is struggling, and the product he is now selling is not himself but a near-trillion-dollar economic “stimulus” package loaded with pet Democratic spending projects that has awakened slumbering Republicans in Congress and is now supported by barely a third of Americans.

The stimulus package is suppose to jump- start us Americans back to our free-spending and borrowing ways, right?
As bad as rampant consumerism has been, it was the little engine that allowed the economy to be robust prior to 2008.
Today, our economy has finally defaulted on the debts incurred during all those years. Our borrowed money relied on an over-valued property market, too easily sold to unworthy buyers and too unregulated at our lending banks. When that property market bubble burst, our wealth and spending plummeted with it.
So, now, we learn that digging our graves even deeper by spending is exactly what we must do to bring the economy back and allow companies to have the profit to re-hire people again.
Stimulus = Save less. Spend more. I can understand why this needs to be a short term solution. But it’s a tough sell when people are already in debt and possibly unemployed. Thus, the federal government may need to do the spending if the individual is reluctant.

How funny. In another article I read, Republicans, as a group, are planning to go even more negative because they think that gives them the upper hand or some-such nonsense. Just look at their negative poll numbers just out – 58% negative rating on how they are handling the stimulus debate. And it’s not like they have an alternative to the stimulus package; they just say NO with their best partisan voice. We don’t have time for the hate-mongering! Have they truly learned nothing? Are their memories so appallingly short that they don’t remember November 2009? Obama reaches out a bipartisan hand and they simply bite it. Today’s Republicans are like the great dinosaurs that were not able to adapt to the changing environment – after a while, they just became extinct.

The only problem with the stimulus bill is that it isn’t big enough. And, too much for tax cuts.
The GOP is basically fiddling while Rome blazes, and the public knows this.

Hey the GOP is not holding this up. Obama just wants to blame the Americans for this thing if it fails.

If Democrats want to mortgage the future of generations to come they have the power to do so.
All they have to do is stop whining and vote for this massive American mortgage.

The Democrats don’t care that our children/grandchildren will be responsible for BO’s outrageous spending package.
They are rich and don’t pay taxes–and their kids are probably set for life.
Two sets of rules under Obama.

sammy wrote:
“I prefer the poll that says only 38% srongly approve of Obama.
That seems much more realistic given his amateurish/disasterous first two weeks.”
That poll – Rasmussen – also shows that only 24% strongly disapprove. As for the overall approve/disapprove ratings in that poll, it’s 60% approve, 38% disapprove. That’s a +22 approval rating. If I were president facing the challenges we face today, I’d be ecstatic with numbers like that.

When Obama was elected he paid for all the pork Bush and the Republicans ate. He has to clean up the dishes and mop the floors too. Bush and the Republicans left a mess behind.

I don’t believe in polls. It is the mainstream news media. Obama’s approval poll has dropped down below 60%.

Republicans keep yelling this package is going to spend our money. Well DUH?
Republicans seem not to know that stimulus means Spending.
Republicans don’t seem to get that we need to get money to people who will spend it or in other words, stimulate the economy.
This is the party of dumb. Michael Steele, Joe The Plummer, Sara Palin
They don’t know the simpliest of things.
Steele was embarrassing on Abc yesterday. Remember Joe the Plummer didn’t even understand that Obama’s plan would be better for him and his fake business he was going to start and Sara Palin couldn’t even come up with one publication that she reads or one supreme court decision. They should change the name of the republican party to the Dumb party. They believe anything their leaders tell them.

Hey wingnuts, Reagan & George W tax cuts cost $7 trillion of our $11 trillion national debt. Hence, you people have zero credibility on BOTH economic policy & fiscal policy! Quite a feat! Kudos!

“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” ~ Ben Franklin
Stop the phony stimulus bill. It will only saddle our children and grandchildren with more debt and, if anything, will prolong the recession.
Economies are cyclical. Doing nothing will save us our tax money and will have the same result as throwing money down the deep, dark hole under the false pretense that it will create jobs.
Let failing industries fail and let successful industries take their place. It is the natural ebb and flow of business.
President Obama needs to quit drumming up fear and encourage Americans to have confidence that our economy will turn around in its own time.
No socialist country has ever had a successfull economy (except for the minute few elites at the top hiding in their fortresses). It doesn’t make sense to copy the very political system that our fathers and grandfathers fought to keep at bay.

What the house past was a good bill. What the Senate has done is weaken it.
It’s shameful that conservatives who broke the economy are trying to block the rest of us from fixing it.

“Republicans seem not to know that stimulus means Spending.”
Chloe,
The spending that has to occur to create a true recovery in consumer spending, NOT Government spending!
People are not going to spend if they do not have confidence that the job they have will still be there in a few months. Hence the reason most people are not spending right NOW!
Here is one for all the liberals out there….
How many people had the government laid off ?
.
.
.
.
.
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All these people who are currently unemployed worked for companies! Exactly how is the ridiculus PORK PIE going to help those companies or new ones create jobs that give peoiple confidence to spend again?
Feel free to run off at mouth about its all Bush’s fault, None of those rants matter NOW!
This now Obama’s Problem palin & simple. He could have told Pelosi up front – Do NOT loaf the stimulus bill with PORK, or I will bury YOU in the public forum!
He chose to let her create this mess, and because of the oppostion, we got to find out just how much SHE really cares about the American people! If Democrats really cared aboput solving these issues, they would remove her from the Speakership immediately!!!

Jake, I’ve been closely following the media coverage of the debate and am delighted yet shocked by the poll. The surpose is that the Republicans, having seemingly dominated the framing of the package debate, has such a low approval rating.
Jake, what is the rational explanation for this? Even the panelist on Charlie Rose seemed to come on the side that President Obama had lost control of the message?

“Say what you will about the Reagan tax cuts, they enabled me to amass a great deal of personal wealth during the 1980′s and early 90′s,starting virtually from scratch.” -LH
Read this post carefully people. It’s the very reason why tax cuts don’t work. Reagan ran up a huge deficit while a few swines got rich. Do you think that they are the ones that end up helping to pay the deficit back down?

Chloe, you say, of Republicans, “They don’t know the simpliest of things.” You mean, perhaps, like how to spell? If you are going to make fun of people in such a juvenile way, you have to expect some of it to rebound on you. I saw Mr. Steele on ABC (all caps) yesterday and did not find that he embarrassed himself at all. George, on the other hand…. let’s just say the Rahm talking points were showing. Mr. Steele made an excellent distinction between make-work projects and actual long-term jobs.
As a Republican, I can tell you that I understand completely that TRUE stimulus means spending, but not just any old spending. It must be focused in the right way. Spending on raising the Pell Grant maximum by 400 or 500 dollars is NOT stimulative. Spending on smoking cessation programs is NOT stimulative. Much that is in the bill is payback to Pelosi and company’s supporters, which is pure old-fashioned pork, not stimulative spending.
You say Republicans are “dumb” and “believe anything their leaders tell them.” You are not proving to me, at least, that you are doing more than parroting the ideas of the “leaders” of your own party, if you include Mr. Kos among them. Knee-jerk agreement with President Obama is just as foolish as knee-jerk disagreement. I have found the discussion of both sides of the issue for the most part very thoughtful around here lately. There are, obviously, exceptions to that rule.

Since Gallup got it badly wrong during the 2008 election, they are not known for their accuracy.
I prefer the Rasmussen poll( one of the most accurate in the 2008 elections) which says only 40% of Americans support the stimulus package.