It's good to see that President Obama is taking to the pages of the Post to argue in favor of immediate passage of the stimulus. I especially like this portion:
In recent days, there have been misguided criticisms of this plan that echo the failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis -- the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can meet our enormous tests with half-steps and piecemeal measures; that we can ignore fundamental challenges such as energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive.That is exactly what I've been waiting for the President to say. By rejecting the primacy of tax cuts, President Obama is taking a shot across the bow of conservative thought. Conservatives believe (well, as I've argued previously, pretend to believe) that tax cuts for the wealthy will stimuluate the economy. Let me ask you this, do you think the middle and working classes benefit when the government gives more money to the upper class? Just think about that for a few minutes, and I'm sure you'll reach the same conclusion that I have. President Obama is beginning to realize (at least I hope) that Republicans are not negotiating in good faith. They simply want to ruin the bill, and then vote against it, so they can avoid responsibility for it's ultimate failure. Unfortunately, I think the bill has already been riddled with bullets, and is much weaker than it could've been. However, what's left of it must be passed now in order for us to have the best chance at avoiding calamity.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Korean Resource Center, February 4, 2009
