The Dicey Politics of a Second Stimulus
(CBS/ AP)
For Republicans, who have been seeking a message that will help the party regain some momentum, that's the sort of bad news that comes with a silver lining. Members of the GOP have been harshly attacking the opposition party as wasteful spenders whose expensive programs have had little positive impact.
"The administration promised the stimulus would keep unemployment below 8 percent, and they promised the stimulus would create jobs immediately," House Minority leader John Boehner said Thursday. (Officials actually predicted it would stay below 8.5 percent.)
"It's pretty clear now that the administration was wrong. The bottom line is this: The stimulus isn't creating enough jobs," Boehner said.
Defenders of the stimulus package say the situation would have been even worse without the legislation – and they note that nearly 90 percent of the stimulus money has not yet been spent. (The latter fact cuts both ways, of course: Stimulus defenders can point to it as evidence that the bill should be given more time to work, while critics can raise questions about why the money hasn't gone out faster.)
The Obama administration has dispatched Vice President Joe Biden to try to convince Americans that the stimulus is indeed making a difference. On Thursday, he went to Ohio and upstate New York to say he sees its impact everywhere he goes.
(AP)
But voters are skeptical. In that crucial swing state of Ohio, one poll has puts the president's approval rating below 50 percent. And an important voting bloc appears to be shying away from the president – independents, who, Politico reports, "seem to be responding to Republican complaints of excessive spending and government control."
