The latest Rasmussen
poll has support for the stimulus dropping to 37 percent of
Americans, with a plurality of 43 percent now opposed. Meanwhile,
the polling firm
also found that 50 percent believe that the stimulus bill
will make things worse.
The Gallup
result is a bit more nuanced. It found that three out of four
Americans want some form of a stimulus package passed. However,
only 38 percent want the package to be passed as is, with another
37 percent saying it should be passed only after "major changes"
and 17 percent saying it should be rejected all together.
Remember, this was supposed to be a slam dunk. Early in the
transition process, the Obama team had
hoped to have a finished bill signed on his first day in
office. Yet two weeks into his presidency, the front page of the
Washington Post has a story about how Democrats have now
conceded that they don't have enough votes to pass the
package -- even though they have 58 Senators. Meanwhile,
President Obama had to do five television interviews yesterday to
boost support for the legislation. Obama will inevitably sign
something, which will probably be touted as a "victory" in the
media. But I think it's fair to say that this stimulus push has
not gone as smoothly as expected
The Republicans have now junked their ideological "cut everyone's
taxes" for targeted cuts that really might be a stimulus. Finally
they are using their heads instead of pandering to the people who
know nothing about economics. Specifically, payroll tax cuts and
mortgage rate reduction strategies make infinite sense since they
target the people who will spend immediately and save some
foreclosures. There are still a few calling for cuts in the
capital gains rates that will do nothing for job creation since
jobs are based on business demand, not on costs. I also don't
hear much about across the board tax cuts which are not
stimulative and will only reduce tax receipts as they did with
both Reagan and Bush.
Finally, the smart people in the Republican party are coming
through with good ideas based on things that will actually work.
Now if we could get the pork out of the bill, we might actually
have something.
I wouldn't gloat too much, however, as I think Axelrod's strategy
was to let the House load the bill up with red herring's that
Obama could excise at a later time just to draw in moderate
Republicans. We'll see if I'm right about that in this next week.
Bob| 2.4.09 @ 9:33PM
The Republicans have now junked their ideological "cut everyone's taxes" for targeted cuts that really might be a stimulus. Finally they are using their heads instead of pandering to the people who know nothing about economics. Specifically, payroll tax cuts and mortgage rate reduction strategies make infinite sense since they target the people who will spend immediately and save some foreclosures. There are still a few calling for cuts in the capital gains rates that will do nothing for job creation since jobs are based on business demand, not on costs. I also don't hear much about across the board tax cuts which are not stimulative and will only reduce tax receipts as they did with both Reagan and Bush.
Finally, the smart people in the Republican party are coming through with good ideas based on things that will actually work. Now if we could get the pork out of the bill, we might actually have something.
I wouldn't gloat too much, however, as I think Axelrod's strategy was to let the House load the bill up with red herring's that Obama could excise at a later time just to draw in moderate Republicans. We'll see if I'm right about that in this next week.