Joe Conason, The New York Observer
Not only did the president win the debate over his bill, but he also rebutted the Republican argument for mostly tax cuts instead of spending, according to Gallup’s Feb. 9 poll. By 50 percent to 42 percent, most Americans believe that government spending will do more to spur economic growth than tax cuts—a stunning repudiation of conservative ideology. Although Republicans tend to prefer tax cuts by wide margins, Democrats remain convinced that spending works better and, ominously for the right, so do independents, by a margin of 50 percent to 36 percent.
The Republicans slapped themselves on the back for denying the president a single vote in the House of Representatives, but the basic fact is that they could not come close to sustaining a Senate filibuster against this bill. Underlying that reality is the emptiness of their fiscal rhetoric and the paucity of their ideas. In major states such as Florida and California, their own GOP governors have spoken out in favor of the stimulus because the party has no program beyond tax cuts for the wealthy.
So the approval ratings of the Republican Party and the congressional minority declined during this struggle, while the ratings of the Democrats and the congressional leadership improved, despite their uneven performance. Those numbers should bolster the determination of the president and his party to push ahead—and to push back when they meet obstruction, as they inevitably will.
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