Obama's in Trouble, and He Knows It

As soon as the House of Representatives had finished voting on the stimulus bill, President Obama had to know he was in trouble. His failure to secure even one vote in the House, a veritable slap in the face, means the stimulus bill he has championed is his and his alone. Unless significant concessions are made to Republicans in order to win their support, Obama and the Democrats will bear full responsibility for the economic consequences of their plan.

There was a simple reason for Mr. Obama's overtures to Congressional Republicans over the past week. He was looking for broad support for a pork-filled, political bill that is likely to do very little to improve the economy. With Republicans on board, the President could say, "We tried, but we need to do more." Without Republican support, there is no one else to blame if the measures provided for in the legislation fail. That is clearly not the route Mr. Obama wants to take.

Mr. Obama seems to be losing the support of the American people, as well. According to a new Rasmussen poll released January 29, only 42 percent of likely voters support the President's economic stimulus plan. That's down 3 percent from last week. I suspect support will slip further as the ugly details of the bill continue to be made public. What ugly details? The Wall Street Journal put it this way:

"We've looked it over, and even we can't quite believe it. There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons."

Jobs created by infrastructure projects? Some, maybe, but not many. The Journal says, "Some $30 billion, or less than 5% of the spending in the bill, is for fixing bridges or other highway projects. There's another $40 billion for broadband and electric grid development, airports and clean water projects that are arguably worthwhile priorities. Add the roughly $20 billion for business tax cuts, and by our estimate only $90 billion of the $825 billion, or about 12 cents of every $1, is for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus."

Where's the rest going? How about $600 million for new cars for the federal government; or $150 million for the Smithsonian Institution; or $81 billion for Medicaid; or $20 billion for food stamps. How will any of these provisions create jobs to stimulate the economy?

And here's one of my favorites: "...some $54 billion will go to federal programs that the Office of Management and Budget or the Government Accountability Office have already criticized as 'ineffective' or unable to pass basic financial audits." I thought the Obama campaign promised to clean up wasteful government spending? Dropping provisions for continued funding of these programs would be a good place to start.

Republicans are finally beginning to show a little backbone, and that means that Mr. Obama will likely have to make considerable changes to his plan if he wants to avoid going it alone. If Republicans can maintain their unity, they can bargain from a position of strength and get a bill much more to their liking. Now, there is cause for concern here. Some GOP senators have expressed support for the senate version of the stimulus. But they should be emboldened by their colleagues in the House. If they stand together, they can stop the recklessness.