Obama: I'll Move Fast on Stimulus

South Carolina teen becomes face of stimulus with plea for education funding

(NEWSER) - South Carolina eighth-grader Ty'Sheoma Bethea became the symbol of the stimulus package in President Obama's speech to Congress last night, WSAV reports. The president has repeatedly referred to Bethea's dilapidated school in his calls for spending on education infrastructure, and during his speech he quoted from a letter the 14-year-old wrote to Congress urging lawmakers not to neglect education. More»

(NEWSER) - President Obama has had to change his tune a few times since he took office, but the content of his speech to Congress tonight will be no surprise, Michael Scherer writes in Time. Talking points have been consistent for long enough to predict 5 key features:

• I'm not Bush: In case Congress didn't notice, Obama will emphasize particularly his break from the former president's "deception" as regards the budget—and the helicopters.

He's no Michael Moore—he's a pragmatist, and he keeps scoring

(NEWSER) - Frank Rich and Paul Krugman can rail all they want, fueled by their disappointment that President Obama is no “Michael Moore in chief.” These “brilliant men" are “profoundly resistant to the core rationale of the Obama presidency"—a strategy that’s working well as Obama manages consistently to “get shit done,” writes Andrew Sullivan at the Atlantic . More»

Team searches for ways to bolster economy

(NEWSER) - With economic recovery looking sluggish at best , President Obama is considering a national infrastructure program, alongside a wave of tax cuts for businesses and individuals. Up for discussion are additional tax cuts for small businesses, a possible payroll tax cut for businesses and individuals, and other tax breaks aimed at encouraging businesses to hire, sources tell the Wall Street Journal . More»

Prez is neither a pushover nor a big-government liberal

(NEWSER) - If you believe President Obama is either a ruthless big-government liberal or an ineffective, overly intellectual leader, it probably says more about your politics than his, argues David Brooks. Obama is, and always has been "a center-left pragmatic reformer" who believes in "a moderately activist government restrained by a sense of trade-offs," but partisans on both sides seem intent on completely misreading him and his agenda, Brooks writes in the New York Times. More»