According to Ben Smith of the Politico, the House/Senate deal this afternoon on a $789 billion economic recovery and investment package adds up to "a pretty clean win for the president."... During the transition Obama called for a stimulus package in that ballpark, and said he hoped to get it through by first week in February.I tend to agree on the politics here, although I'm not as sure on the substance. Overall, I'm happy that after 8 years when the only answer from Republicans to any question - common cold? economy too slow? economy too fast? hangnail? - was TAX CUTS! And not only TAX CUTS in general, but TAX CUTS specifically to those who didn't need them, in a manner that would help working and middle class people the least, and without any investment in our nation's physical and human infrastructure to balance out the one-sidedness of it all.
It's February 11, just a few days late, and he appears to have more or less what he wanted. He's now going to get credit for massive spending on thousands of popular projects, further enhancing his political capital, at least for now.
He, and the plan, will be judged on the larger course of the economy. But this deal appears to leave a strong president even stronger.
Now, along comes a package that is certainly not perfect by any means. What is in the "sausage factory" of Capitol Hill? Personally, I would have preferred to weight the package much more heavily towards investment, as opposed to tax cuts, with the objective of creating a strong base for sustained - and sustainable - economic growth well into the future. Yes, we got some of that, but I would have wanted even more, whether in education, health care, energy or transportation (within that category, I strongly prefer transit over new roads).
Having said all that, it's striking to think what a sea change the passage of this legislation will signify, from the ideologically-driven, faith-based supply side/trickle down lunacy of the Bush Administration, to a more serious, balanced package that doesn't just throw money at the short-term problem but actually takes a stab at dealing with long-term challenges (e.g., global warming, our "oil addiction"). Again, this plan is not perfect, certainly not from a Progressive persepctive, but in the end I think it's a step in the right direction and a "pretty clean win" for our talented new president, Barack Obama.
[UPDATE: In Washington, DC, it's never over until it's over. And even then, it might not be.]
