Obama plans to campaign for economic stimulus package; "full-scale marketing blitz"

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Los Angeles Times

President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to lead a full-scale marketing blitz to pass the massive new stimulus package that he says is needed to revive the slumping economy and put the nation on the course he laid out during his campaign.

Obama will move to Washington this weekend, checking into a hotel with his family. In the remaining weeks of the transition, and after he is sworn in, he will use the bully pulpit to make the case for passage of a stimulus package of up to $775 billion, an aide said.

Obama, now in Hawaii on vacation, may travel outside Washington after Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, while others in the new administration scatter across the country to explain in minute detail the scope and purpose of the stimulus plan, said David Axelrod, a senior advisor to the president-elect.

"We'll fan out, and this will be a public process," Axelrod said in an interview. "We'll make clear to people why we need to do what we're doing, why it's the size it is, what the individual component parts are, and why they are an important part of the equation in terms of short-term recovery." Obama, he said, "wants the American people involved in this discussion."...

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ob...

[Abq_Sarah]

1. I am hoping it won't be business as usual

In the Congress. Since they hold the purse strings, every single congressman who votes should know exactly what is in the stimulus bill, how it's going to be paid for, who will benefit and how the government recoups money given to private industry.

And NO PORK!

This needs to be done quickly, but it also needs to be done responsibly.

[shraby]

3. I'd also like to see a plan to recoup the money given

to wall street...and some heads roll over that one.

[Ian David]

2. I just saw The Stimulus Blimp pass overhead this morning. n/t

[cliffordu]

38. rofl.

[Idealism]

4. BREAKING NEWS: Obama to buy 30-minute TV air time on 3 major networks to talk of stimulii

More at 11. Back to you, Bob!

[FrenchieCat]

5. Good!

Go to the people and inform us. Then we'll put the pressure on our elected officials to get this shit done!

Making it a Public Process sounds just dandy to me!

[bdamomma]

14. we also need to put pressure on our state reps and senators.

enough.

[Hubert Flottz]

6. He will find out PDQ that you can't make deals with neoterra-ists

like Mitch.

I voted for Obama because I wanted things to change...I'm tired of the same old obstructionist assholes like Mitch, winning every time, because he can cry louder and longer than Harry Reid.

[antimatter98]

7. Between the GOP and Pelosi/Reid's poor leadership..it will be a hard sell. n/t

[stillcool]

20. I think that 'fanning out across the country'

means that they're trying to sell this plan to the public, not Pelosi and Harry. The American people are no different from those in Congress, so you're probably right..it will be a hard sell.

[Winterblues]

44. I disagree, the American people are no where near as Partisan as those in Congress.

Remember it was by going to the people in 1993 with their Harry and Louise Commercials that stopped the Clinton National Health Care Initiative

[stillcool]

45. I believe that the Clinton National..

Health Care Initiative never got off the ground, for reasons much different than that ad. People were even less interested in their government then, than they are now. It is indeed the people that cede all power to those very few that a small part of the population chooses to elect.

[Bandit]

52. If you recall Clinton ran on establishing National Health Care

That was his main "Cause" and he had a sizable Democratic Majority in congress. It wasn't until the many Ads placed by the Health Care Industry that the tide turned against it. Once the American people decided they didn't want it, it was over. Democrats wanted it but they were forced by the people into dropping it. And IMO that is a major reason they were thrown out on their asses a year later...

[stillcool]

54. You're right...

I have no recollection of that time, and what limited reading I had done on the issue, placed the blame on the mis-steps in the beginning of the Clinton Administration, and the impasses with the Insurance Industry. I took a little time, and read a little more, and it is sad to see that there is not very much a President can do without public support...and how very easy it is to get the public whipped up against damn near anything.

[radfringe]

34. I'm sure it's because they are expecting GOP blustering

and this is one way to get ahead of it - they are controlling the frame and the message instead of being on the defensive and surprised when the GOPers start with their crap.

[babylonsister]

37. Pelosi and Reid are backing the stimulus package. As for the goopers,

some won't, but they'll look pretty stupid in the eyes of their suffering constituents if they don't come up with a viable alternate plan, and I understand they got bupkis.

[Demeter]

8. We Need to Rebuild an Economy, Not Try Shocking a Dead One Back to Life

And that's a long-term job that involves people-oriented infrastructure:

Govt. paid healthcare
public health
public education
unions
and all kinds of jobs==WPA style

[Baby Snooks]

9. The Problem...

"The president-elect wants a two-year stimulus plan that includes a middle-class tax cut, along with money to rebuild roads, bridges and schools."

The problem is the government will contract with state and local governments who will then contract with contractors who will then contract with sub-contractors and the only people who will get the jobs are the "guest workers" which is one of the reasons why so many people in this country are out of work. That is not racist. That is reality.

And before anyone accuses me of being racist everyone should go back to 1996 and remember the warning of Barbara Jordan about what would happen to the American worker if the problem of illegal immigration was not addressed. The Democrats didn't listen to her any more than the Republicans listened to Ronald Reagan. Both parties love cheap labor. And don't care if it puts American citizens out of work and keeps them out of work. This part of the stimulus plan may help the contractors but it won't help the American workers. Just the "guest workers."

They could put in a provision requiring verification of legal status but both parties would object.

As for the trillions of dollars already given away to the banks did Congress think to address the problem of outsourcing by these banks? Congress in many cases is stablizing the economy of other countries.

But then Congress was only concerned with keeping the CEOs happy - they are the one who write the checks to their campaigns and to their parties.

As for the middle-class tax cut it only helps the middle-class who still have jobs. Sorry but so far the change we were promised appears to be the same old, same old.

[Dawgs]

10. I agree. I think this will be a major concern of most Americans.

Hopefully each state will be required to hire legal workers; if that is possible.

Outsourcing of jobs, either here or abroad, is one issue I wish Obama would have talked about more.

[tabbycat31]

50. I'm concerned with that too

and I'm also concerned that private contractors instead of government employees (new hires) will do jobs like building and repairing bridges and roads.

I know that Obama is not the crony that Bush is, but I still have visions of Halliburton and Blackwater doing the Katrina recovery "work" (I use that term lightly since I don't think they did a good job).

[Robbien]

11. Rahm is doing that smarmy stimulus move again, giving handouts to all the little people

Rahm is so full of disdain for the non-rich that he believes small handouts to the little guy will buy their support.

The incoming administration is considering tax cuts of $1,000 for couples and $500 for individuals that will be delivered by reducing the tax withheld from paychecks. That plan has been estimated to cost about $140 billion over 2009-2010.

The lump-sum rebates issued earlier this year were used by many people to pay down debt, rather than spending the money and boosting the economy as the administration had hoped.

"People need money in their pockets to spend," Axelrod said. "That'll get our economy going again."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ipdn0...

Didn't work last time but hey, if its broken why fix it.

[KittyWampus]

12. Rahm? It's POTUS Obama, not Rahm.

[earth mom]

15. WTF?! $1000 BUCKS over the course of a YEAR? That's chump change!

Is this REALLY the plan Obama campaigned on?!

Sorry, but as much as I loathe *, we at least got some cash from him!

If this is what Obama is planning on doing, there's gonna be a HUGE amount of pissed off voters.

[Johnny Noshoes]

35. Hey I'm single..

You know what a $500 tax cut amounts to - about $38 a month. They can keep it for that small an amount. However when you consider that those stimulus checks were probably borrowed money from China, that many people used to probably buy Chinese made goods, the tax cut is better than the lump sum check. At least you'll probably spend that on a little extra food each month and odds are its American grown food. Ultimately something is better than nothing. Hell the $38 extra a month means I can afford HBO .

[stillcool]

23. Is that what you read?

a 'tax-cut' = 'didn't work last time'? When was the last time the middle class got a tax break? And, what does the Chief of Staff have to do with this?

The president-elect wants a two-year stimulus plan that includes a middle-class tax cut, along with money to rebuild roads, bridges and school
------------------
Aides would not discuss certain aspects of the package, including the tax cut, saying the details were still being worked out.

But a House leadership aide said the tax cut may come in the form of a payroll tax reduction so that "there'd be more in your paycheck." The cut would potentially apply to people earning as much as $250,000 a year, the aide said.

[Robbien]

39. It isnot a tax cut. It is only good for two years, so its $500/person paid out over two years

Big deal. A real tax cut for working stiffs would not be a lump sum paid out over two years. The tax cut for the rich will last ten years, and it is a tax cut based on income each and every year of those ten years.

This is a $500 per person lump sum paid out over 24 months. Whoop dee doo. The rich dudes in congress are throwing pennies to the masses and expect gratitude for their largess and sneakily using the magic "tax cut" terminology to hide the fact that they are just giving out a little bit of money, one time only.

[stillcool]

41. Where pray tell did you read..

what was in the stimulus package, including how the tax cuts would be figured in? In the article posted I read this...

Aides would not discuss certain aspects of the package, including the tax cut, saying the details were still being worked out.

[Robbien]

42. Repeating my first excerpt and link

The incoming administration is considering tax cuts of $1,000 for couples and $500 for individuals that will be delivered by reducing the tax withheld from paychecks. That plan has been estimated to cost about $140 billion over 2009-2010.

The lump-sum rebates issued earlier this year were used by many people to pay down debt, rather than spending the money and boosting the economy as the administration had hoped.

"People need money in their pockets to spend," Axelrod said. "That'll get our economy going again."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ipdn0...

So while aides are saying they will not discuss, they are discussing.

A lump sum of $500 per person paid out over 2009 and 2010. You get about twenty bucks a month for two years.

We don't need this. We need jobs. We need rail transport. We need green energy. We need lots of things but one thing we don't need is to be thrown a couple of bucks and told go out and shop.

[stillcool]

43. And what does that say?

"Is Considering" Are you going to wait until you see what is actually in the stimulus package before you contact your representatives, or are you going to act now, because of what you have derived from this article? What else about this stimulus package that has not yet been revealed do you have an issue with?

[Robbien]

46. What's your problem?

I offer my opinion that throwing money at people is not what this country needs and you get snippy that since everything is not set in stone, people shouldn't have opinions and talk about it.

Well, people are talking about it. Obama himself in the original OP has said he is going to do a media blitz about his package (which says to me that if the package was worth anything, no one would have to bombard the people with a blitz through the media). His staff are talking and giving their opinions about what they believe should be in it and saying people should get out and shop.

[stillcool]

48. I get snippy because asserting..

facts from an article that are not there is problematic to me. When the stimulus package is revealed..which we all know will not pass intact, I will be more than happy to entertain opinions, especially those with more knowledge than I, which are many. Arguments about facts not in evidence, for the sake of argument is why I don't watch tv.

[bdamomma]

13. checking into a hotel, is this how they treat a Pres. Elect?

has this ever been done before putting a Pres. Elect in a hotel.

[Hugin]

16. Heck, if I were in D.C. he could come stay with me.

I might even pull out the Futon!

[nolabels]

21. Ah, what the heck, the room service is probably better anyway

[tbyg52]

36. Ah, BushCo - classy to the end.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_amer...

[earth mom]

17. I said it upthread and I will say it again-this plan sounds like TOTAL BULLSHIT

Families can better use a LUMP SUM than a piddly ass $83 a fucking month!

Obama is making a HUGE mistake if this is his plan!

p.s. Just told my hubby and the first word out of his mouth is "that is bullshit!" I'm sure EVERYONE will react the same way!

[stillcool]

19. "If this is his plan"....

what is the 'plan'? Sounds like there is a little more to it than your synopsis, no? Hence the need to educate people? I hope they're not hoping that by informing the public, the public will put pressure on their representatives to pass it. Now that would be a HUGE mistake.

[earth mom]

22. Read the links, it's all there. nt

[stillcool]

24. I read the words...

as they appeared on the page..Are there words that I missed that might explain your outrage, and the reason why "EVERYONE" will think this is bullshit? A middle class tax cut is 'bullshit'?

Aides would not discuss certain aspects of the package, including the tax cut, saying the details were still being worked out.

But a House leadership aide said the tax cut may come in the form of a payroll tax reduction so that "there'd be more in your paycheck." The cut would potentially apply to people earning as much as $250,000 a year, the aide said.
------------

The president-elect wants a two-year stimulus plan that includes a middle-class tax cut, along with money to rebuild roads, bridges and school

[earth mom]

25. "the tax cut may come in the form of a payroll tax reduction"

What don't you understand about that?

Again, $83 a MONTH is chump change!

And you know it but won't admit it.

[stillcool]

26. What don't you understand..

about a 'middle class tax cut'? You don't think the middle class should get a tax cut? The Republicans say "the tax cut MAY come in the form of a payroll tax reduction" and that is all you took from the article? You have no idea what is included in the stimulus package and yet, it's "Bullshit"? What I know, and what I will admit to, is that I read the words as they appeared on the page, and your outrage lies in something other than the stimulus package. And I think you know it, but won't admit it.

[LanternWaste]

27. Maybe to some people...

"...$83 a MONTH is chump change!"

Maybe to some people. To me, $83/month can relieve quite a few budgetary strains.

But then again, I live in genteel poverty and picturesque squalor...

[geckosfeet]

29. $80 a month - about $900 a year. More than the $600 bUSh handouts.

Also consider the investments for industry and new jobs that will be created. Some people have NO income due to lack of a job right now.

[geckosfeet]

28. Errr, everyone?

Don't think so.

Not bullshit.

I think this is a better move than handing out billions to Wall Street with no accountability. I am sure that "everyone" thinks just as I do.

[earth mom]

49. The Wall Street Bailout was THEFT. But bailing out the MAJORITY of the population is NOT theft

or bullshit and is absolutely necessary if Obama wants to kick start the economy.

The fact of the matter is that Obama is throwing we peons a bone. That's all this load of crap stimulus package is.

Jeez, how hard is it to drum up 40 or 50 bucks-you can always sell or pawn something.

Which is why I'm not buying the rah rah crap about this plan. Puhleeze.



I loathe *, but at least he & Congress handed out a lump sum which people could actually DO something with.

Hell, even Al Gore wanted to stop taxes altogether and just tax business with high carbon emissions. Haven't heard one word about this from Obama.

[babylonsister]

33. You don't like and never have a damned thing he has done or will

do. What makes this any different?

And what happens when the lump sum runs out? Palms outstretched for more?

[certainot]

18. talk radio monopoly does the groundwork for GOP counter-blitz

it reaches 60 MIL, a crowd the size of the one that voted for obama and there is no truth standard for their advertising.

so will the obama admin ignore talk radio as all previous dems have done, while rove used it to whack them senseless as if swinging an invisible 2x4?

if the americans want change they need to fix that monopoly or at the very least acknowledge its dominant ability to enable the disaster of the last 20 years, since reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine.

[earcandle]

31. Listen to Ear Candle Radio instead!

[4dsc]

30. Obama is just trying to maintain the ecomony

Lets face it, the economy is in deep 6 mode right now and Obama is just trying to prop it up for a year or two while the corporate powers figure out what to do next.

Business as usual is not going to work in the future and that's the real problem that no one wants to talk about..

[eilen]

40. I am interested in hearing the details of his plan.

I hope that a tax cut can relieve some of the extra pressure of the tax and fee hikes in my state (NY). Even if it is $40 a month, it can make a difference ie, in allowing us to maintain--not have to cancel a service we use, etc.

[babylonsister]

32. Great news! Once the public is aware of why this is going to be

done, the rethugs won't have much to argue about. Though they will anyway.

[No Elephants]

47. I have decidedly mixed feelings about government using my tax dollars to sell me one sided

propaganda instead of giving me a balanced view. At the same time, in this instance, public perception is part of the problem (or so the one sides view of Wall Street and big government claims, anwyay).

[Name removed]

51. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ryanmuegge]

53. Hopefully there will be a plan to create jobs that pay a real wage.

Serious changes also need to be made to trade policy. A tax "rebate" will not do any long-term good, which means that will probably be the centerpiece of Obama's plan.