The White House says that this stepped-up pace was always planned. Most initial stimulus activity included establishing oversight, choosing projects, and getting contracts signed. Now, the heavy job-creation can begin. But the "road map" highlights the administration's fight to control the public narrative of the recovery act, which is likely to be the president's defining piece of economic legislation in his first year and key to Democratic success in the 2010 elections.
The GOP has fought the stimulus from the beginning. No House Republican voted for its passage. But now, spurred by growing job-loss numbers, they've ramped up their attacks. "This administration, in its effort to justify the rush for an $800 billion stimulus bill in January, has now begun to once again move the goal post," House Minority Whip Eric Cantor said this week. Republicans are also not shy about reminding the public of a report issued by two of Obama's chief economists in January that said that if the stimulus was enacted, unemployment would remain below 8 percent. One of the economists, Jared Bernstein, admitted this week that the prediction was "clearly too optimistic" because it did not take into account fourth-quarter figures, then unavailable, for gross domestic product.
Strategically, the GOP's attacks might make sense. According to Gallup, Obama enjoys a 67 percent approval rating. But while 55 percent are happy with his handling of the economy, 45 percent disapprove of his control over federal spending. "If you're a Republican, you don't have much else to hold on to," says Norm Ornstein, a congressional expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
For its part, though, the administration has noted for several months that job creation would not be immediate, not least because the stimulus is designed over the long term to avoid a boom-and-bust scenario. "We're going to have to be patient and persistent about job creation," Obama said at a March town hall meeting. "I don't want people to think that in one or two months, suddenly we're going to see net job increases." The question, however, is how long that patience will last. And how much time, if any, the new road map to recovery will buy the White House.
source: The administration's "road map to recovery," announced last week with great fanfare, didn't launch any new programs. Instead, it's an effort to stimulate the stimulus. By accelerating the implementation of 10 major programs like funding 135,000 education jobs and renovating 107 national parks, the plan will create or save 600,000 jobs by summer's end, the president said. That's quadruple the 150,000 that the administration estimates were created in the stimulus law's first 100 days. "We're moving in the right direction," Obama said. But, he added, "we've got more work to do."
The White House says that this stepped-up pace was always planned. Most initial stimulus activity included establishing oversight, choosing projects, and getting contracts signed. Now, the heavy job-creation can begin. But the "road map" highlights the administration's fight to control the public narrative of the recovery act, which is likely to be the president's defining piece of economic legislation in his first year and key to Democratic success in the 2010 elections.
The GOP has fought the stimulus from the beginning. No House Republican voted for its passage. But now, spurred by growing job-loss numbers, they've ramped up their attacks. "This administration, in its effort to justify the rush for an $800 billion stimulus bill in January, has now begun to once again move the goal post," House Minority Whip Eric Cantor said this week. Republicans are also not shy about reminding the public of a report issued by two of Obama's chief economists in January that said that if the stimulus was enacted, unemployment would remain below 8 percent. One of the economists, Jared Bernstein, admitted this week that the prediction was "clearly too optimistic" because it did not take into account fourth-quarter figures, then unavailable, for gross domestic product.
Strategically, the GOP's attacks might make sense. According to Gallup, Obama enjoys a 67 percent approval rating. But while 55 percent are happy with his handling of the economy, 45 percent disapprove of his control over federal spending. "If you're a Republican, you don't have much else to hold on to," says Norm Ornstein, a congressional expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
For its part, though, the administration has noted for several months that job creation would not be immediate, not least because the stimulus is designed over the long term to avoid a boom-and-bust scenario. "We're going to have to be patient and persistent about job creation," Obama said at a March town hall meeting. "I don't want people to think that in one or two months, suddenly we're going to see net job increases." The question, however, is how long that patience will last. And how much time, if any, the new road map to recovery will buy the White House.
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