Bolstering Confidence In The One

Oh, you just gotta love this:

With public confidence in the stimulus package showing signs of ebbing, the Obama administration is continuing to sell its impact with nation-wide events and press appearances.

Today brings this explanation, from Christina Romer, the chairman of the president's Council on Economic Advisers: Stimulus spending, Romer told the Financial Times, is "going to ramp up strongly through the summer and the fall." 

"We always knew we were not going to get all that much fiscal impact during the first five to six months. The big impact starts to hit from about now onwards," Romer said.

We've known for some time that the money takes a while to get out the door.

Given that this is an ABC report, you'd expect some serious boot-licking and groveling to commence, but Rick Klein apparently decided to do the job of a real journalist and actually check some facts:

But top Obama advisers haven't always been so cautious in predicting how the long the stimulus would take to be felt.

Back in February, with Congress moving swiftly to approve President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package, White House budget director Peter Orszag said the benefits of the stimulus would be "take weeks to months" to be felt.

Larry Summers, director of the National Economic Council, was even more optimistic: "You'll see the effects begin almost immediately," Summers told CNN in February. 

Just last month, Jared Bernstein, Vice President Joe Biden's top economic adviser, joined administration officials in asserting that the stimulus was already working, despite rising unemployment rates. 

Kudos to Klein for stepping out of the mold.  And crap-os to Obama & Co. for lying through their teeth to the American people.

Here's another great example of the confidence inspired by the One's policies and personnel.  In an interview with Obama's 'energy czar' Carol Browner, Steve Doocy brings us this exchange:

STEVE DOOCY: "[I] know the bill is over 1,000 pages long. Have you have read it?"

CAROL BROWNER: "Oh, I'm very familiar with this bill."

DOOCY: "Have you have read it?"

BROWNER: "We have obviously been watching this for a very long time. I am very …"

DOOCY: "I'm sure you've got an idea of it, but you have read it?"

BROWNER: "I've read major portions of it, absolutely."

DOOCY: "So the answer no you haven't read it. But you've read a big chunk of it."

BROWNER: "No, no, no that's not fair. That's absolutely not fair."

DOOCY: "No, I'm just asking you if you read the thousand pages."

BROWNER: "I've read vast portions of it."

Nice.  I wish Doocy had asked for the number of pages Browner has read.  Does 'vast' mean 300 of the 1500+ total pages?  600? 1,000?  How many did she actually read?  Regardless, 'vast portions' just gives you that warm fuzzy feeling of complete confidence and competence, doesn't it?  Hot Air adds this:

Vast portions? That would put her ahead of the Congressional curve, where 219 people — including eight Republicans who made the difference — voted for it without reading it at all. We know that because the House never produced a complete, up-to-date, and integrated copy of the bill to its members before the vote took place.

Yep, you read that right - the House passed the energy/destroy-the-American-economy bill last Friday without an actual bill.  And you thought it couldn't get any worse than voting on something they hadn't read...now they're voting on things that don't even exist!

Unbelievable.  And yet, completely unsurprising.

There's my two cents.