The Stimulus Battle Is Just Getting Started

Succeed or fail, look for it to be the focus of the 2010 elections
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 16, 2009 12:21 PM CST
The Stimulus Battle Is Just Getting Started
With the president's record-busting plan, the US is marshaling resources against economic catastrophe in ways not seen since Franklin Roosevelt put the New Deal in motion.    (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

At $790 billion, the stimulus package that Barack Obama signs into law this week carried enormous economic risks. But as the Washington Post reports, the political stakes of the stimulus are nearly as large. By denying the president a single vote in the House, the GOP is betting that the recovery package will look like a failure in 2010, when midterm elections offer a chance of a comeback.

The Obama team is launching a PR effort tomorrow to highlight new jobs that the stimulus will create—and looking to FDR and Bill Clinton for examples of how to reap political gain from a recession. But the Republicans have pledged to shift the debate toward worry about the growing deficit, which they'll use to push for more tax cuts.
(More economic stimulus package stories.)

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