Comments on: The real story vs. the make-believe story

By: michael livingston

michael livingston — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:49:16 +0000

Well, this sounds increasingly like the argument supporters of the Vietnam War used to make–it’s the right idea, we just need more troops. It may be correct economically. But politically?

By: Jon Geeting

Jon Geeting — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:38:35 +0000

Obama’s failure was his inability to pass a big enough stimulus package over the objections of conservative Democrats and of course Republicans. The problem is not that Obama has moved too far to the left, but rather that the stimulus was not big enough to fill the hole in demand left by the credit crisis and consumers pulling back spending. He made a political calculation, but the policy most economists were proposing – a stimulus of 1.2 trillion – was far to the left of where Dems were willing to go. Much of the media criticism of the stimulus has been from the right – along the lines of whether Obama was right to pass a stimulus package at all. But the real valid policy criticism – the only one that matters if we’re serious about actually recovering – comes from the left. Obama’s failure has been that he too often comes out for weak policy that can gain congressional support, but is insufficient to fix the problem. The same is true of the climate bill and the public insurance option. A bill with an employer mandate and the public insurance option is $400 billion cheaper than one without it. The further left the bill, the cheaper it is. That is why a failure to perform may sour voters on Obama, but will not translate into support for Republicans, especially Bush Republicans like Pat Toomey.

By: michael livingston

michael livingston — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:53:26 +0000

Dear Justin,

It’s interesting that you would call the numbers “laughably inane” when you hadn’t looked at them. That tells you a lot about support for Obama and how it is based on emotion rather than reason at this point.

By: Dan Hirschhorn

Dan Hirschhorn — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:16:14 +0000

Fixed, and one number updated to reflect the more recent polling data from today.

Dan

By: Dan Hirschhorn

Dan Hirschhorn — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:54:59 +0000

Hey Justin,

pa2010.com editor Dan Hirschhorn here. Apologies for the broken link. I am looking for the right link and will fix ASAP.

Thank you for pointing out.

Dan

By: Justin Gilmore

Justin Gilmore — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:42:09 +0000

There is nothing fake about the Palin’s or Sanford’s stories. Both figures are prominent on the national scene and their resignations or refusal to resign are national news.

Also you make an accusation that Obama’s magic wand is not working. It was very clear to me that this stimulus package was for the long term. We would not wake up the next day and everything would be fixed.

Finally your dancing with the poll number is laughably inane. It seems you are reaching desperately for any negative number to predict the end times. I would like to check the numbers myself but the link is broken, please fix this.