At True/Slant, Ryan Sager has a very apt post noting that the real and overwhelming factor behind President Obama’s sagging approval ratings is the economy. What I’d been wondering though was why the White House was not moving more aggressively to convince voters that the early signs of a stabilizing and rebounding economy are due in large measure to the Stimulus Bill President Obama pushed through just after he was elected. But it appears they’re kicking that into gear. Today, Vice President Biden and cabinet secretaries Vilsack, LaHood and Salazar are each giving speeches on the Stimulus.
As long as unemployment continues to mount, making these arguments isn’t going to have a big effect. But the key is to lay the groundwork for November 2010. By then, if the administration is lucky, we should be seeing concrete evidence of a rebounding economy, though probably a recovering that is slower than we’d like.
Republicans have already been arguing that signs of a rebound mean the Stimulus money was a waste. You actually have Republican members of Congress out there today responding to every positive sign out of the economy by asking, “Well, doesn’t this mean we should take back the stimulus money?” Mind-numbing but true.
So it’s critical for the administration to be explaining over and again over the next fourteen months how and why the Stimulus is working. Because when the economy does rebound there will be a bitter fight to explain why. Not only is this ‘narrative’ good for the White House. It has the added advantage of being true.
