Articles

The President Moves the Economic Goalposts

July 15, 2009

So what's a president to do when the promises he made about his economic stimulus program fail to materialize? If you're Barack Obama, you redefine your goals and act as if America won't remember what you said originally. That's a neat trick if you can get away with it, but Mr. Obama won't. His words are a matter of public record and he will be held to them.

When it came to the stimulus package, the president and his administration promised, in the words of National Economic Director Larry Summers, "You'll see the effects begin almost immediately." Now it's clear that those promised jobs and growth haven't materialized.

So Mr. Obama is attempting to lower expectations retroactively, saying in an op-ed in Sunday's Washington Post that his stimulus "was, from the start, a two-year program." That is misleading. Mr. Obama never said if his stimulus were passed things might still get significantly worse in the following year.

FULL ARTICLE: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124770231103148561.html

Related Article

9c031df2f72b7f564754f1d3ce8982ce
June 11, 2026 |
Article
The New York Times’s Sunday interview with Scott Pelley, formerly of CBS’s “60 Minutes” is a gobsmacker. ...
47eaa529e5162b52b40a1a13e11e2a48
June 04, 2026 |
Article
The primaries Tuesday in California, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, South Dakota and New Mexico provide insight into how the midterms are shaping up. ...
A073348fc173127d8442f652aa330425
May 28, 2026 |
Article
Say what you will, President Trump’s endorsement is still mighty powerful in primaries. Last week, seven days before Tuesday’s Senate runoff in Texas, Mr. Trump endorsed the scandal-plagued state attorney general, Ken Paxton, over Sen. John Cornyn. ...
12cb2f9cf332d357d47c632da13a97d4
May 21, 2026 |
Article
Now that the Virginia Supreme Court has thrown out state Democrats’ attempted gerrymander, the battlefield for the House this fall is coming into focus. ...
Button karlsbooks
Button readinglist
Button nextapperance