Posted 7:44 PM by steve

I think 'Overreaching', the label the Washington Post put on EJ Dionne's column is apt (but probably not for the reasons Dionne thinks appropriate)...

Dionne (as to be expected) faults the GOP for opposing Pelosi's stimulus bill even though it was "largely based on the administration's own proposals".,, but Dionne doesn't disclose to readers that while Obama is in favor of components that Pelosi put into the stimulus bill, he wasn't in favor of including them IN the stimulus bill (as opposed to considering them separately). Dionne also doesn't disclose that there's a lot in the stimulus bill that Obama doesn't like (for example, Obama wanted the stimulus bill to be free of earmarks which certainly isn't the case). Nor does Dionne point out the GOP wasn't objecting so much to the components of the stimulus bill that Obama was in favor of, they were objecting to the REST of the stimulus bill Pelosi put together (the social re-engineering that Pelosi is trying to sneak in under the cover of an emergency stimulus bill).

While Dionne has high hopes that GOP Senators from Obama-carried states might go along with Obama, he doesn't mention that Democratic Senators from McCain-carried states might be a bit more hesitant to go along with their extremely liberal colleagues in the House.

And finally, while Dionne notes that several economists consider "the current stimulus plan, large as it is, as still too small to give the economy the jolt it needs", he doesn't provide the full explanation that economists don't think the problem is that we need a stimulus bill of more than $800 billion, they think the problem is that so little of the $800 billion will actually do any good.