Obama again: I didn't explain the stimulus bill well enough

[Monkeyleg]

Well, that’s the Recovery Act. What I just listed, that’s what this was. And so I think that one of the challenges we had two years ago was we had to move so fast, we were in such emergency mode, that it was very difficult for us to spend a lot of time doing victory laps and advertising exactly what we were doing, because we had to move on to the next thing.

And I take some responsibility for that. I mean, our attitude was we just had to get the policy right, and we did not always think about making sure we were advertising properly what was going on. But I think that we have the opportunity now that the economy is more stabilized to be as clear as possible with folks about what we’ve done.

After 90,000 speeches, Obama still thinks that the reason the public is opposed to the stimulus plan (and Obamacare, and cap and tax) is that he hasn't explained it well enough to us rubes.

That's right, Mr. President. Those of us who don't have Ivy League degrees can't possibly fathom your plan to borrow trillions of dollars from the Chinese and from future generations to fund "shovel-ready projects" that were not ready. Hayseeds like us just can't understand the brilliance of you and your team.

A suggestion: from now on, use one-syllable words, and speak verrrryyyy slowly. Maybe it will work. 

[sanglant]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/magazine/17obama-t.html?pagewanted=all

While proud of his record, Obama has already begun thinking about what went wrong — and what he needs to do to change course for the next two years. He has spent what one aide called “a lot of time talking about Obama 2.0” with his new interim chief of staff, Pete Rouse, and his deputy chief of staff, Jim Messina. During our hour together, Obama told me he had no regrets about the broad direction of his presidency. But he did identify what he called “tactical lessons.” He let himself look too much like “the same old tax-and-spend liberal Democrat.” He realized too late that “there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects” when it comes to public works. Perhaps he should not have proposed tax breaks as part of his stimulus and instead “let the Republicans insist on the tax cuts” so it could be seen as a bipartisan compromise.

from here it sounds like we elected an alcoholic.

and i'm not looking forward to the great one, rebooted.

[MechAg94]

After 90,000 speeches, Obama still thinks that the reason the public is opposed to the stimulus plan (and Obamacare, and cap and tax) is that he hasn't explained it well enough to us rubes.

That's right, Mr. President. Those of us who don't have Ivy League degrees can't possibly fathom your plan to borrow trillions of dollars from the Chinese and from future generations to fund "shovel-ready projects" that were not ready. Hayseeds like us just can't understand the brilliance of you and your team.

A suggestion: from now on, use one-syllable words, and speak verrrryyyy slowly. Maybe it will work. 

And then you add in all the numerous examples of purely pork spending and payback to cronies.  Add in the fact that I believe even now all the money hasn't been spent for a stimulus plan 18 months or more ago.

I still agree with an op ed at the time.  If they wanted to stimulate, they would declare a tax free month.  No one, including businesses and corporations, would pay any income or payroll taxes or any other govt fees deducted from checks like SS or FICA.  I think that would stimulate the hell out of things.  It would also stimulate the bitterness when the checks get smaller again after that month.

[Monkeyleg]

It would also stimulate the bitterness when the checks get smaller again after that month.

Which is why they could never do it.