Obama’s weekly radio address was used in large part to try to deflect some of the mounting concerns over why, exactly, all this money was spent and we’re seeing exactly zero results. Looking over his radio speech, he seems to want us to think things are cruising along exactly as planned.
“As a result of the swift and aggressive action we took in the first few months of this year, we’ve been able to pull our financial system and our economy back from the brink,” he said, deflecting calls for a new round of stimulus spending and saying that his plan was intended to work not in a few months but over two years.
Now, my memory can be a little foggy sometimes, so correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t recall a lot of, Gee, let’s be patient guys, during the discussion about the Stimulus. I remember a lot more of, OMG!! OMG!! The world’s doomed!! Pass this now!! It’s our only hope!!! Don’t read it! There’s NO TIME!!! Just pass it NOW!!!
But whatever. So now it’s two years. Won’t matter either way.
In a little over 100 days, this Recovery Act has worked as intended. It has already extended unemployment insurance and health insurance to those who have lost their jobs in this recession. It has delivered $43 billion in tax relief to American working families and businesses. Without the help the Recovery Act has provided to struggling states, it’s estimated that state deficits would be nearly twice as large as they are now, resulting in tens of thousands of additional layoffs — layoffs that would affect police officers, teachers and firefighters.
The Recovery Act has allowed small businesses and clean energy companies to hire new workers or scrap their plans for eliminating current jobs. And it’s led to new jobs building roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects, thousands of which are only beginning now. In the months to come, thousands more projects will begin, leading to additional jobs.
But, as I made clear at the time it was passed, the Recovery Act was not designed to work in four months — it was designed to work over two years. We also knew that it would take some time for the money to get out the door, because we are committed to spending it in a way that is effective and transparent. Crucially, this is a plan that will also accelerate greatly throughout the summer and the fall. We must let it work the way it’s supposed to, with the understanding that in any recession, unemployment tends to recover more slowly than other measures of economic activity.
This is a bad idea. Aside from the fact that the President is just lying through his teeth, as Ed Morrissey points out at Hot Air, he’s climbing aboard a train that’s simply running out of track.
The Stimulus isn’t going to work. It’s not. There’s nothing about extending unemployment, studies on honeybee mating, or light rail in Wisconsin, that’s going to jumpstart this economy. The Stimulus was a payoff to liberal Democrat allies and palm-greasing for future favors, pure and simple. It’s going up in smoke the way every other government spending plan does.
There’s already talk of a second Stimulus, from a variety of sources both inside and outside the administration, because the first was too “watered down” or not “targeted” enough.
Of course, Obama doesn’t have much choice. The Dems pushed it, hard, and now he’s got to defend it. But there’s got to be a better idea than saying, It’s all going according to plan, doesn’t there? This makes the administration look monumentally stupid. Ten percent unemployment was your plan?
Oh, and by the way, let me throw a health care overhaul, a save-the-Earth tax, and a second Stimulus on top of that as well, mmmmkay?
For those that pay attention to the news, he looks like a flat-out liar, and for those that don’t, he looks like he’s an idiot.
Glad things are going according to plan.
