Obama Aggressively Pushes Back Against Stimulus Criticism

“They did after all win. So is it unfair to say?”
A bit- he didnt run on his stimulus package. He ran on free tax rebates to everyone but those evil people who make more than 250,000. And the importance of the POTUS sending email.
This:
“the very same failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis”
has no foundation in fact. How didnt tax cuts lead to a banking crisis caused by a high default rate?
Anyway, it appears that HR1 is dead. Thune referred to it in the past tense and there is a news story where Reid says that they are busy taking things out of it that Senators dont like.

jpt quotes Pelosi:
“But that doesn’t mean we don’t want it to have sustainability and bipartisan support, and the president is working hard to get that done.”
If every politician who uses the word “sustainability” were locked up and kept incommunicado, it’d be a better world IMMEDIATELY.

Mr President,
“the very same failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis”
Perhaps then you would like to use your influence to have Barney Frank removed from his commitee chair IMMEDIATELY!
After All is it HIS failed theories that led to this mess!

Also, Mr President….
Again, I implore you to demand that each appropriation in the stimulus bill be attributed to the proper senator or representative AND an estimate of the jobs it will create in each year!
If we dont add that in, there will be no way to really know if someone understand what they are doing. This will also help the American people see with complete transparency who is playing the “funneling” game and who is really serious about creating jobs for the people!
Do the RIGHT thing Mr. President…Give us the transparency that YOU promised!

Bertie is right again!
When President Obama said:
“the very same failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis”
I waited for him to put the onus on congress. They clearly had and have the dominant hand in creating this debacle.
Perhaps the leadership will emerge later.
For now I am encouraged that he continues to speak out.

Mike_C: “Again, I implore you to demand that each appropriation in the stimulus bill be attributed to the proper senator or representative AND an estimate of the jobs it will create in each year!
If we dont add that in, there will be no way to really know if someone understand what they are doing. ”
Where the appropriation came from has no impact on what it is, and the estimate of jobs it will create is so subjective as to be meaningless. It is clear you are not interested in anything but creating partisan soundbites.

I’m with stupid: ” If they want bi-partisan support, they will have to do things that encourage the other side to support it.”
Just how many things? They included tax cuts in the bill, they yanked the birth control funding, they yanked the renovation of the National Mall – and they got exactly zero Republican support. Why bother pandering to Republicans who will just carry on with their tantrum unless they get 100% their way?

We can all agree that the government, while under republican control, was a complete and utter failure.

Okay, Mr. President… the campaign is over, so you can loose the rhetoric about past “failed policies.”
So cut “Pelosi’s pork” from the stimulus package, give it Barney Frank to chew on so he’s got something useful to do, and tell Harry Reid to stop whining and get to the people’s work.
My goodness, you have a lot to deal with within your own party. I wish you well.
Dave

KR the pop of the US is around 305,000,000 so I would say you are probably out of work and so are your grandchildren (future or present)

It’s fair to say. Didn’t Obama’s numbers in the polls improve drastically once the focus became the economy, once the voters compared the Republican’s response to the crisis, to the Democrat’s? Didn’t everyone agree there was a stark difference between their economic viewpoints, and didn’t the voters choose Obama? Fairplay. Totally. And I sincerely hope he wins this one. So far, the GOP appears to want a stimulus bill with no stimulus in it.

“Bertie is right again!”
Its a free service ;-) One that Ryan C doesnt want to take advantage of, but I provide nonetheless.
Obama needs to realize three things:
1. GDP growth comes through private investment and growth. If you spend x government dollars and they dont result in y (y>x) amount of private investment then the investment is pointless. How will you ever even pay back the $x you borrowed?
2. It doesnt matter how much stimulus Obama pumps if gas goes to $4/gal again. Transportation and energy costs are in too many places in the economy. Things will crater again in 2 quarters if oil gets to $150/barrel and his $1T or $2T will have been wasted. Now is the time to be building nuclear power plant, modernizing the grid, and building refining and pipeline capacity.
3. Banks work on leverage. If a small percentage of their assets become non-performing it wipes out the majority that are earning income. There needs to be a full open investigation of what factors pushed banks into non-performing loans. For instance the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (an umbrella group of local agitators) used the CRA as a conduit to shakedown banks for donations and to pressure them to make investments they normally wouldnt. To what extent was this a contributor to the current default crisis? I dont know. We dont know. But if we dont examine all the factors involved in bad loans being originated then after TARP we will end up right back where we are in another 2-5 years.

More kool-aid please.

KR: ”
A recent poll by a popular polling agency has
38% Support the stim bill as is
54% Want major changes or reject it all together
Its going to need changes to get public support.”
Why don’t you just post the results without your bias?
38% As is
37% Want changes
17% Reject it
The poll takers summarize it as:
“A strong majority of Americans (75%) want Congress to pass some version of President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, but this group is split down the middle on whether it should be passed as is or with major changes.”
Compare that with what you said and ask yourself why Republicans have earned a reputation as liars.
Also note that when the question is phrased as “As you may know, Congress is considering a new economic stimulus package of at least 800 billion dollars. Do you favor or oppose Congress passing this legislation?” With no “change it” option the result was 52% in favor, 37% oppose, and 11% no opinion. And before you whine this was an old poll, it took place within 3 days of the one you cite.
I invite folks to hit gallup and look for themselves. And to remember what we’ve all learned so painfully: Republicans lie.

PBS station that was doing an hour long program on the switch from analog to digital tv. OMG. Just as I suspected, they have not been at all forthcoming with the public about the possible problems. For instance:
It is advised that you have an outdoor or attic antenna – an indoor antenna will not provide a good signal reception.
If you insist on an indoor antennal, throw out the rabbit ears and get a directional antenna or you will not get the signal.
If you have the old flat cable, you must change it to the round cable.
And the more cable length you have to run to get from the antenna to all your tv sets, the more the signal will be degraded.
The more times you split the cable, the more degraded the signal.
Once you hit a certain point, you will lose the digital signal altogether.
This is quite a bit different than the impression that the govt is giving that all you have to do is buy a converter box and you will be fine. IMO, this reinforces my feeling all along that the conversion was designed to force everybody to get cable, and we know what crap cable programming is now, not to mention expensive.
The ripoff pkg wants $650 MILLION dollar for the analog-to-digital box program!!
SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION!!

TruthSeekr: “Are you guys being deliberately obstructionist? Maybe so. Your leader, Rush Limbaugh has said publicly,”I hope Obama fails.” Those treasonous comments from your leader ”
They aren’t treasonous – leave that moronic schtick to the right wingers. Limbaugh’s comments are selfish and cruel, since he make hundreds of millions of dollars off of perpetuating political hatred and doesn’t seem to care about the people facing poverty and hardship as long as it keeps him paid. But his comments, and the actions of the Republicans who clearly do consider him a powerful party leader, aren’t treasonous.
I do find it interesting that Limbaugh sits on the radio raking in hundreds of millions of dollars being a rightwing firebrand, while left wing equivalents like Al Fraken actually believe what they’re saying and run for office to try to improve the country. When’s Limbaugh running?

The Brody File has learned that President Obama will announce the creation of a new President’s Advisory Council on Faith during this Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC.
He will also lay out his plan and ideals for The White House’s Faith Based Office. The new director of the office, Joshua DuBois will be announced as well. The prayer breakfast will be an opportunity for President Obama to explain the role of the faith based office and his vision of how it intersects with government.
Well this is also in the ripoff pkg…you will be soo0 surprised to know how much this will cost. Go find out, look it up! Search the heavens!!!

sammy | Feb 4, 2009 12:52:33 PM:
Clearly, she misspoke. Pelosi probably meant to say 500,000+ jobs are lost each month, which is approximately what we’ve been averaging the last few months. We’re losing 500,000 jobs a month! And it’s only projected to get even worse.
So, if you think this is all funny or amusing in anyway, laugh away.

That Gallup poll showed that 38% want the bill to”pass as proposed” and 37% want the bill to “pass with major changes.”
Cause that leaves out those that reject it.
What I put down was truthful, I combined two numbers that represent opposition to the CURRENT bill in its CURRENT form, which is 37% plus 17%, thus 54% do not support the bill in its CURRENT FORM.
Yes, 75% support A sim bill, as do I. But 54% do not support the CURRENT bill, as I do not. I fall into both categories.
Its not rocket science.

“Just how many things? They included tax cuts in the bill, they yanked the birth control funding, they yanked the renovation of the National Mall – and they got exactly zero Republican support. Why bother pandering to Republicans who will just carry on with their tantrum unless they get 100% their way?”
I’m going to guess that the Republicans (and the 11 Democrats who didn’t vote for the House bill either) didn’t feel that there were enough changes to vote for it. You have to remember one thing, jhw539, they aren’t there to represent YOU, they are there to represent the people that elected them. If their constituents feel that those Republicans (and 11 Democrats) should have supported it, I’m sure they’ll express that feeling in 2010.
One other thing, I don’t know if you’ve ever been involved in a successful negotiation, but there is usually some give and take. When one party says, “Here it is, take it or leave it!” they don’t have any room to complain with the other party says, “OK, see you later!”

There are a lot of really good points already posted.
I’ll additionally point out-
Obama did win, but he didn’t win on the stimulus. As far as I can recall, nobody ran on the stimulus.
Every House member also won. The House Republicans won their seats just as Nancy Pelosi won hers. Senators in the Senate, Republican and Democratic, are there because their constituents put them there.
Neither side is under any obligation to just give the other what they want. They can negotiate if they believe their constituents want them to.
Or the Democrats can put the bill they want through and take the credit/blame.

TruthSeekr: “Limbaugh has exalted a right-wing ideology above the success of this nation. He has betrayed this country. By definition, what he said is treasonous. ”
Treason is one of the very few crimes described in the Constitution: “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.”
I think we should stick to this definition and try to bring reality back into the debate. Personally, I hate Limbaugh and I think he is hurting people and perpetuating ignorance. But I don’t think he should be literally shot nor do I think he is waging war against the country in any way.
Language matters. Lets get the debate back into the realm of a discussion of facts and reality (don’t worry, it’s friendly ground for Democrats – reality has a liberal bias).

How is this different from “Bush War” then? He won. So, he went to war. If the winning leader has all the say, then there is no reason why we shoudl have a congress. We should resort to Dictatorship.

Why should we doubt Obama, i mean Lincoln, i mean JFK, i mean MLK, Oh sorry i mean Obama after his excellent choices of TAX CHEATERS and CONVICTS for his recent cabinet picks.

“The problem is, Republicans want Obama to fail… they’ve mad that public, so they are not interested in doing what is right for the country.v They want the country to fail and are not honest brokers.”
Mike, I’ve heard some media coverage about Mr. Limbaugh’s comments, but I haven’t heard anyone actually in Congress saying they want “Obama to fail”. I certainly haven’t heard anyone saying they “want the country to fail.”
I think that there are a lot of people who, for some reason, expected Republicans to vote like Democrats, just because Barack Obama was elected President. Just because the Republicans screwed up a lot of things during their six year tenure of Presidential and Congressional control, doesn’t mean they have to become Democrats to absolve themselves now.

Barry ”” Why should we doubt Obama, i mean Lincoln, i mean JFK, i mean MLK, Oh sorry i mean Obama after his excellent choices of TAX CHEATERS and CONVICTS for his recent cabinet picks.
Name one convict that Obama has on his cabinet.

Well, Pelosi also says that if we do not pass the stimulus that 500 Million Americans will be out of work.
I’m thinking there are not even 500 Million Americans.
Are we suppose to believe she knows what she is talking about? If she represents California, I think I know why they are Bankrupt.

Our Greatest Smartest Leader PBO will admit he made yet another boneheaded mistake, after there is enough public outcry of his incompetence and lack of leadership.
It was only on Monday PBO promised that he “absolutely” supported Daschle, but on Tuesday he admitted he made a boneheaded screw-up mistake.
Poor Daschle, just like Blago, ended up nothing and had to pay taxes which he would have hidden unnoticed, for associating with PBO too early too closely.

Hmmm: does anybody ELSE wonder who’ll be the NEXT head of the Arkansas Medical Board … and what it has to do with Daschle, HHS and all that …
And a church went boom in Chicago. Just an explosive day, maybe.

“They did after all win. So is it unfair to say?”
Not unfair, but not too smart if you are counting on Republicans to follow you off the cliff.

Our Greatest Smartest Leader PBO will admit he made yet another boneheaded mistake, after there is enough public outcry of his incompetence and lack of leadership.
It was only on Monday PBO promised that he “absolutely” supported Daschle, but on Tuesday he admitted he made a boneheaded screw-up mistake.
Poor Daschle, just like Blago, ended up nothing and had to pay taxes which he would have hidden unnoticed, for associating with PBO too early too closely.

” The Constitution does not, however, support efforts to subvert our duly elected leaders.”
Uh, wow.

Obama can say he won: he did; no one cares at this point.
What Obama cannot continue to do is to talk down the economy. Reagan came into office facing more intractable problems: high interest rates and infliation. In that environment, he could have bemoaned his fate and the country’s state, but he didn’t. Instead, he inspired the country.
In this crisis, Obama has the luxury of printing money given low interest rates for US borrowing and no inflation. He should take a more positive outlook and discard the mantel of pessimist in chief.
Positive facts:
No inflation.
Low US borrowing rates.
World trust us to overcome this, driving up value of the US dollar.
If other countries place trust in us, why won’t Obama?

Truthseekr: “distortion of fact and elevation of ideology over country, as Rush Limbaugh has done, precludes the healthy debate necessary for a democracy to flourish.”
Call him a liar, cite where he states falsehoods (there are many, many examples) and then ignore him. And when people repeat his made up facts or simplistic logic, cite reality and educate them (or call them out as partisan liars and move on).

Mac | Feb 4, 2009 1:35:36 PM:
I can see that a lot of people here love to “drudge” up their news. Pelosi misspoke. Big deal. The point is that we’re losing a ridiculous number of jobs each month — about 500,000 THOUSAND each of last few months. That’s projected to get worse in the next few months. Conservative estimates say that the unemployment rate will reach about 9%. Other estimates say that double-digit unemployment is unavoidable. The hope is that, among other things like helping you keep your insurance if you lose your job, a stimulus will minimize job loss in America.
(By the way, you’re right. There aren’t 500 million people in America. It’s approximately 300 million.)

BertieW: “New Rasmussen poll:”
Cute, you finally figured out that Rasmussen’s “likely voter weighting” (whatever that means in an off-election year) adjustments to their poll give them a conservative lean. The same pollsters have NEVER shown support over the mid-40′s and have been the lowest of all the big polling houses. The current numbers aren’t surprising. But you don’t care about little details like methodology when you agree with the numbers, do you?

I have always thought Obama was running for one term, he’s made history, his family is covered for the next 10 years after he leaves with security, he will make a gazillion more writing books and letting movies be made about him than a President’s salary….now, if he can just stumble through four years with the rest of us

“Remarkable then that both Rasmussen and Gallup found the exact same 37% support for the HR1.”
Except they don’t.
Rasmussen only asks favor or oppose the stimulus plan.
Gallup offers a bit more nuance, asking if one thought the plans should be passed as is or with major changes or rejected.
38% think the plan should be passed as is.
37% think the plan should be passed with major changes.
Only 17% reject the plan.
Republimussen does ok on election polls(middle of the pack on accuracy but he polls for everything) but with social issues he ends up with a conservative lean. Which is why he is featured on FoxNews so often.

What is the percentage that supports the actual HR1 bill?
37%-38%. You have two polls telling you that and you are in denial.
The Rasmussen poll shows the same deterioration in support over time that Gallup shows.

BertieW: “The Rasmussen poll shows the same deterioration in support over time that Gallup shows. ”
No. The Rasmussen poll shows a consistent deterioration in support and a much lower initial amount of support. Geeze, even when you’re talking about the poll that supports your position you’re mis-stating it.
Gallup polls have not shown any deterioration of support (yet – the last one is 5 days old at this point, it may have turned). Comparing polls with different question wording to each other is a textbook case of ‘lying with statistics.’ Which is what you’re doing.

jhw539,
Poll this, poll that,…does not matter, the trend is across the board. The PEOPLE do not want this pork pile passed!
Even Obama is giving Pelosi & the House Dems a mild bitch slap on this one. She forgot He won the election, not herself!
This was one ot the tests I said all along that Obama would face with his first major piece of legislation. I will give him a hand on standing up to his own party some on this. He knows the house bill is virtually impossible to sell the American people now.
It now time for him to truly LEAD. I implore him to attach the relevant senator/representative’s name to EACH appropriation in the new verison of this bill. Also provide an estimate of how many jobs that appropriation will create. He has the “Bully Pulpit” and can use it to achieve this goal.
Mr President, take control and do right by the people. Show us that you really do mean to change the way things are done in Washington.

“Gallup polls have not shown any deterioration of support (yet – the last one is 5 days old at this point, it may have turned). ”
From 1/27:
Question: “As you may know Congress is considering a new Economic stimulus package of at least $800 billion dollars. Do you favor or oppose Congress passing this legislation?”
-52% favor
-37% oppose
-11% no opinion
From Jan30-Feb1st:
Question: Do you think Congress should pass Obama’s stimulus plan basically as Barack Obama has proposed it, pass it but only after making major changes, or reject the plan?
- 38% pass as proposed
- 37% pass with major changes
- 17% reject plan
- 8% no opinion
Clearly that is an erosion.
“Comparing polls with different question wording”
The both ask do you support this stimulus plan. It is no longer hypothetical. We are talking about facts about HR1 as they come out. And the results are the same- only 37-38% of the surveyed public likes HR1.
Unless you are trying to make the case that people think deleting the “.02%” for the National Mall makeover is a major change you have to admit that people want to go back to the drawing board on this rather than rush through the current bill.

“A strong majority of Americans (75%) want Congress to pass some version of President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, but this group is split down the middle on whether it should be passed as is or with major changes.”
The poll Bertie cites as an erosion of support.

Ryan,
The trend is ovious, the american people do not want HR 1 as it was passed in the house. Spin it anyway you hoose, but the bill that will eventually be signed into law will not be anything like HR 1.

Looks like it may be a moot point if its really unpopular or just unpopular.
Perhaps the Big Pig (v1.0) is dead according to US Snooze:
“Media reports suggest Senate Republicans have become a key focus of stimulus talks, an acknowledgement that they appear to hold the balance of power in that chamber despite having only 41 seats to the Democrats’ 58. The Washington Post reports on the front page that Senate Democratic leaders “conceded yesterday that they do not have the votes to pass the stimulus bill as currently written and said that to gain bipartisan support, they will seek to cut provisions that would not provide an immediate boost to the economy.” Moderate Republicans are “trying to trim the bill by as much as $200 billion.”"
and somewhere a hippie sheds a tear, and then logs onto DailyKos for their new talking points.

Oh I get it the way out debt is to create more debt.Looks like more of the same no change. Bush maxed out the master card and now Obama will max out the visa card. The same bunch who got us into this are now going to get us out. SURE.

It is no surprise that Republicans continue to play their broken record. These aren’t the brightest bulbs around. The things that they have called for are a joke.
Republicans talk and act like tax cuts have no fiscal impact. These fools are the ones who added $5 trillion to the national debt over the last 8 years, by borrowing money so that tax cuts could be enjoyed by the top 5%.
So now they want to borrow more money and give it back to the same people? And where will people put that money? A lot of it wont go anywhere productive – buying gold, investing in overseas markets and currencies, sitting in their bank accounts, etc. Nothing to create and maintain the national job base.
Which means it makes a whole lot more sense (as all lucid economists have noted ad nauseum) to spend money on infrastructure, alternative energy projects, updating the medical records system, etc, etc. that will all go to more jobs, more consumer spending (which makes up the largest part of GDP) and also put the country on a more productive foundation for future economic growth.