Poll: Obama Stimulus Effort Backed By Huge Majority
Even as the media continues to cast the stimulus saga as one of mounting pressure on President Barack Obama to deliver a bill that's become mired in partisan bickering, public opinion remains squarely behind the President's effort. As Obama embarks today on a mini-campaign to sell the stimulus, the numbers indicate that he may be preaching to the converted. Jake Tapper of ABC News provides the essential rundown: Sixty-seven percent of the American people approve of how President Obama's handling his efforts to pass an economic stimulus bill, as opposed to 48% for Democrats in Congress and 31% for congressional Republicans.
In addition, the disapproval rating for Congressional Republicans remains a "staggeringly high" 58%. And the public continues to view the package as a matter of paramount concern. 51% of those polled consider the plan's passage to be "critically important," with "Only 16% say it is 'not that important.'"
What remains obscured by these numbers, however, is whether or not public sentiment lines up behind the various compromises wrought and cuts made by the coterie of "moderate" Senators. Here, the press has done a poor job elucidating what is precisely at stake. Senators Ben Nelson and Susan Collins have been allowed to skate by and issue fundamental falsehoods about what they have done to the bill. In a press release, the two Senators claim to have "funded education," and have ensured that the bill will contain "robust spending on infrastructure to create jobs, $87 billion in assistance for states, and assistance to schools, especially for special education and Pell grants." Yglesias begs to differ:
Would you ever in a million years have guessed from this rhetoric that the primary change Collins and Nelson made was to implement big reductions in aid to states and, especially, in funding for education? I think not. In their rhetoric, Collins and Nelson preserved vital education funding and state assistance while eliminating various metaphorical animal products. Meanwhile, actual changes Collins and Nelson made include:
* Elimination of $25 billion in flexible funding for state governments.* Cut $7.5 billion in funding for "state incentive grants" to help states make progress toward NCLB goals.* Eliminated $19.5 billion in construction aid for schools and colleges.* Reduced new aid for the Head Start early childhood program by $1 billion.
Nowhere in their statement do Nelson and Collins make any effort to justify these decisions. Indeed, they don't even seem prepared to admit that they made these decisions.
And no one is holding Collins or Nelson to account, either. Nevertheless, the stage for these compromises -- and the attendant concerns that have since issued forth from economists like Paul Krugman, who believe that damage is being done to the bill's efficacy -- was set by President Obama himself, who sought out bipartisan input and support at the expense of his negotiating position. As Ryan Grim notes, Obama's "stimulus spending is one leg of a three-part approach" to stabilizing the economy, and if the stimulus bill shows any degree of efficacy, the President may elect to take a second pass. Whether the public will stand behind a rerun of this grueling period in the same buoying numbers is anybody's guess.
LinkHere
In addition, the disapproval rating for Congressional Republicans remains a "staggeringly high" 58%. And the public continues to view the package as a matter of paramount concern. 51% of those polled consider the plan's passage to be "critically important," with "Only 16% say it is 'not that important.'"
What remains obscured by these numbers, however, is whether or not public sentiment lines up behind the various compromises wrought and cuts made by the coterie of "moderate" Senators. Here, the press has done a poor job elucidating what is precisely at stake. Senators Ben Nelson and Susan Collins have been allowed to skate by and issue fundamental falsehoods about what they have done to the bill. In a press release, the two Senators claim to have "funded education," and have ensured that the bill will contain "robust spending on infrastructure to create jobs, $87 billion in assistance for states, and assistance to schools, especially for special education and Pell grants." Yglesias begs to differ:
Would you ever in a million years have guessed from this rhetoric that the primary change Collins and Nelson made was to implement big reductions in aid to states and, especially, in funding for education? I think not. In their rhetoric, Collins and Nelson preserved vital education funding and state assistance while eliminating various metaphorical animal products. Meanwhile, actual changes Collins and Nelson made include:
* Elimination of $25 billion in flexible funding for state governments.* Cut $7.5 billion in funding for "state incentive grants" to help states make progress toward NCLB goals.* Eliminated $19.5 billion in construction aid for schools and colleges.* Reduced new aid for the Head Start early childhood program by $1 billion.
Nowhere in their statement do Nelson and Collins make any effort to justify these decisions. Indeed, they don't even seem prepared to admit that they made these decisions.
And no one is holding Collins or Nelson to account, either. Nevertheless, the stage for these compromises -- and the attendant concerns that have since issued forth from economists like Paul Krugman, who believe that damage is being done to the bill's efficacy -- was set by President Obama himself, who sought out bipartisan input and support at the expense of his negotiating position. As Ryan Grim notes, Obama's "stimulus spending is one leg of a three-part approach" to stabilizing the economy, and if the stimulus bill shows any degree of efficacy, the President may elect to take a second pass. Whether the public will stand behind a rerun of this grueling period in the same buoying numbers is anybody's guess.
LinkHere
"GOP lawmakers criticize passage of $819 billion plan," reads the sub-head.
The stimulus package stumbling through Congress may have taken a beating on cable and in the national press, but the story's been much different on the ground outside of the capital, an analysis done by Democrats finds.
The analysis comes amid reports that President Obama told congressional Democrats that if he had it to do over again, he would have gone to the American people sooner to make a full-throated case for the stimulus.
The Democratic analysis suggests that strategy would have worked better than the above-it-all, post-partisan, everybody's-got-good-ideas approach that crashed on the shoals of unanimous House Republican opposition and near-party-line objections in the Senate.
=====
Democrats looked at 29 districts that Democrats took over in either 2006 or 2009, districts that tend to be swing or conservative districts. Democrats determined that 92 percent of the local stories portrayed the stimulus in a positive light, touting the benefits the spending would bring to struggling local economies.
Of newspaper stories, 91 percent were positive; TV, 96 percent; and radio, 85 percent. The analysis excludes editorials and columns and stuck exclusively to reported stories.
Democratic leadership had encouraged House Democrats to "own" the stimulus. If you're going to vote for it, might as well make the strongest case, went the reasoning. Vulnerable Democrats held a series of townhall meetings and were rewarded in the local press. Obama is now patterning his own strategy after the House Democrats, beginning a national tour to highlight the benefits of the stimulus to local economies.
LinkHere
The analysis comes amid reports that President Obama told congressional Democrats that if he had it to do over again, he would have gone to the American people sooner to make a full-throated case for the stimulus.
The Democratic analysis suggests that strategy would have worked better than the above-it-all, post-partisan, everybody's-got-good-ideas approach that crashed on the shoals of unanimous House Republican opposition and near-party-line objections in the Senate.
=====
Democrats looked at 29 districts that Democrats took over in either 2006 or 2009, districts that tend to be swing or conservative districts. Democrats determined that 92 percent of the local stories portrayed the stimulus in a positive light, touting the benefits the spending would bring to struggling local economies.
Of newspaper stories, 91 percent were positive; TV, 96 percent; and radio, 85 percent. The analysis excludes editorials and columns and stuck exclusively to reported stories.
Democratic leadership had encouraged House Democrats to "own" the stimulus. If you're going to vote for it, might as well make the strongest case, went the reasoning. Vulnerable Democrats held a series of townhall meetings and were rewarded in the local press. Obama is now patterning his own strategy after the House Democrats, beginning a national tour to highlight the benefits of the stimulus to local economies.
LinkHere
Fort Meyers Residents Already Lined Up For Tuesday Obama
Appearance
BY EVAN S. BENN
ebenn@MiamiHerald.com
FORT MYERS -- Several dozen people set up camping chairs and blankets outside the downtown convention center in Fort Myers, two days ahead of President Barack Obama's town hall meeting Tuesday.
First in line: Roy Hendrix, a formerly homeless man who showed up at 9:30 a.m. Sunday to secure his free ticket -- one of 1,500 being given away.
''I get to see the president of the United States, in my town,'' said Hendrix, 51. ``That's better than any rock concert or the World Series.''
Jodi Sasloe of Fort Myers sat in a folding chair right behind Hendrix. She said she had been planning to camp out since hearing an announcement on the radio Friday about the president's visit.
'I was just like, `I need to get there,' '' Sasloe said.
Obama is coming to promote the $820 billion economic stimulus plan that the Senate is expected to vote on Tuesday. He chose this Republican-heavy swath of Southwest Florida because Fort Myers' unemployment rate has climbed to 10 percent -- up from 6 percent last year -- and its housing market is among the nation's worst.
Obama will tour neighborhoods in nearby Lehigh Acres before Tuesday's event. Streets around Lehigh Acres are dotted with homes in foreclosure and with unfinished construction.
Before Hendrix became homeless, he worked for 12 years at a pawn shop in town -- until it went out of business.
Then, when the housing boom came to Florida, Hendrix found plenty of construction work, but during the past two years those jobs have all but dried up in the Fort Myers area. He lived in a tent in the woods until friends recently took him into their home, he said.
''All the work just went away, and now I just do odd jobs here and there to get by,'' Hendrix said.
ebenn@MiamiHerald.com
FORT MYERS -- Several dozen people set up camping chairs and blankets outside the downtown convention center in Fort Myers, two days ahead of President Barack Obama's town hall meeting Tuesday.
First in line: Roy Hendrix, a formerly homeless man who showed up at 9:30 a.m. Sunday to secure his free ticket -- one of 1,500 being given away.
''I get to see the president of the United States, in my town,'' said Hendrix, 51. ``That's better than any rock concert or the World Series.''
Jodi Sasloe of Fort Myers sat in a folding chair right behind Hendrix. She said she had been planning to camp out since hearing an announcement on the radio Friday about the president's visit.
'I was just like, `I need to get there,' '' Sasloe said.
Obama is coming to promote the $820 billion economic stimulus plan that the Senate is expected to vote on Tuesday. He chose this Republican-heavy swath of Southwest Florida because Fort Myers' unemployment rate has climbed to 10 percent -- up from 6 percent last year -- and its housing market is among the nation's worst.
Obama will tour neighborhoods in nearby Lehigh Acres before Tuesday's event. Streets around Lehigh Acres are dotted with homes in foreclosure and with unfinished construction.
Before Hendrix became homeless, he worked for 12 years at a pawn shop in town -- until it went out of business.
Then, when the housing boom came to Florida, Hendrix found plenty of construction work, but during the past two years those jobs have all but dried up in the Fort Myers area. He lived in a tent in the woods until friends recently took him into their home, he said.
''All the work just went away, and now I just do odd jobs here and there to get by,'' Hendrix said.
My colleague Carol Lee reports that Indiana Republican Senator Dick Lugar won't accompany President Obama to his home state tomorrow, despite an invitation from the president.
Indiana's other senator, Democrat Evan Bayh, will be aboard Air Force One, along with six seven current and former members of Congress, one of whom, Brad Ellsworth, voted against the House bill.
A White House official confirmed that Lugar had been invited; a Lugar spokesman didn't respond to a question of why the senator would not be present.
Also on the trip: Rep. Fred Upton, who represents a district in Michigan along the Indiana border, who voted against the stimulus package in the House. But he also immediately issued a statement afterwards signaling he could be persuaded.The House bill was “not the first step we should take to turn the economy around,” Upton said in the statement, while adding that he was “heartened that [Obama] will fulfill his pledge to work together in crafting a bipartisan package.”Obama invited Upton to his Super Bowl party last weekend, and the congressman was one of a small group of guests at White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s dinner on January 27, the night before the House passed the $819 billion stimulus bill without a single Republican vote.
Indiana's other senator, Democrat Evan Bayh, will be aboard Air Force One, along with six seven current and former members of Congress, one of whom, Brad Ellsworth, voted against the House bill.
A White House official confirmed that Lugar had been invited; a Lugar spokesman didn't respond to a question of why the senator would not be present.
Also on the trip: Rep. Fred Upton, who represents a district in Michigan along the Indiana border, who voted against the stimulus package in the House. But he also immediately issued a statement afterwards signaling he could be persuaded.The House bill was “not the first step we should take to turn the economy around,” Upton said in the statement, while adding that he was “heartened that [Obama] will fulfill his pledge to work together in crafting a bipartisan package.”Obama invited Upton to his Super Bowl party last weekend, and the congressman was one of a small group of guests at White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s dinner on January 27, the night before the House passed the $819 billion stimulus bill without a single Republican vote.
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 2:19 PM
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