Stimulus: The One Word The Obama Administration Now Avoids

President Obama was catching flak for his new stimulus plan even before he announced it last week. The problem with the proposed measures, according to the president's political opponents, was that they would be simply even more stimulus.

At their core, most opposing arguments against the new package, which would include a $200 billion tax credit for businesses and $50 billion in infrastructure spending, seem purely political and tied to the perceived failure of the administration's original stimulus program.

The New Yorker's James Surowiecki explains in this week's issue why the word "stimulus," which Obama carefully avoided in his economic speech last Wednesday, has become such a convenient slur in lawmakers' political arsenal. Apart from the fact that "stimulus" can tend to be confused with "bailout," the public relations failure of the first stimulus package, Surowiecki argues, is actually due to its demonstrable success.

The legislation was more modest than the administration advertised at the time, Surowiecki says, and so when no visible changes resulted (like large-scale public works projects reminiscent of the New Deal), Americans assumed it had failed. But, Surowiecki continues, its real and essential successes were intended to be subtle. The program worked as well as it could, and because it worked, no one noticed. (The effects of added unemployment benefits, for example, were only felt by the jobless.)

Back in February, at the first anniversary of the stimulus package, Time blamed the public relations failure on the economy itself, which was more troubled than lawmakers realized in the early days of the administration. "The medicine has worked, to the extent it could, though the patient has not yet recovered," Time noted.

In his news conference Friday, Obama used the verb "stimulate," but never the noun "stimulus," CBS News pointed out. It's proof that, as CBS's Chip Reid said, "It's a word that's just taboo here at the White House."

The strategy of announcing the new plan's components individually, rather than as a "package," makes the program seem less like the original stimulus. As The Atlantic notes, "not calling it a 'stimulus' makes it marginally less easy to attack."

Comments

[SirSlappy]

08:34 PM on 09/16/2010

The word he's avoiding:
"I promise you I will get right to work on (insert any issue)"

[karen1p]

10:49 AM on 09/15/2010

Other words and phrases the Obama administration avoids:

FRAUD
"Send them to JAIL"
"Looking Backward"
"Thorough Investigation"

[climbing panda]

08:06 PM on 09/14/2010

why avoid it? cause it didn't work? maybe. probably.

[graffitijoe]

07:40 PM on 09/14/2010

...along with unemployment rate, ground zero mosque, GITMO, DADT, golf, vacation ...

[climbing panda]

08:05 PM on 09/14/2010

global war on terror and terrorist

[mechman110]

03:31 PM on 09/14/2010

DEMOCRATS /Obama

Poverty up 30%
Homelessness up 25%
Unemployment up 150%

Unemployment drops? NO another 160,000.00 drop off unemployment rolls!

Yes we see how well the democratic policies work!
Mr. oBAMA says I own this war but when it comes to the economy it is all BUSH”S FAULT?

These people need to get a hold ON reality because they certainly are not facing it! JUST PASS THE BUCK IT’S SOMEONE ELSES FAULT?

SENATOR REID IN LAS VEGAS SAY’S UNEMPLOYMENT IS NOT HIS FAULT?
WELL WHO’S FAULT IS IT? But the policies of the Dems who paid attention to everything else but the American people!

The failed policies of oBAMA and the democratic congress and senate
WE THE PEOPLE ----- SEE THE RESULTS

EVERYTIME WE DRIVE DOWN THE STREET! 100’s of EMPTY - FORECLOSED HOMES!

Homelessness, up ! Obama pushes infrastructure which creates the least amount of TEMPORARY JOBS!

IS THIS ALL THE MAN HAS TO OFFER?
I VOTE NO CONFIDENCE IN Obama and the Dems and their failed policies!

It is time for real change in America folks not more of the same lame
Promises of ---- HOPE AND CHANGE! -----
GET OUT AND VOTE IN NOVEMBER FOR REAL CHANGE!………

WAKE UP AMERICA……………………….!

[karen1p]

10:53 AM on 09/15/2010

Actually, YOU need to wake up.

If you think that the financial mafia can steal trillions from our economy, and have the economy "bounce back", YOU ARE NUTS!

One thing you can blame Obama for is: NO THOROUGH INVESTIGATION AND A RETURN OF ILLGOTTEN BONUSES.

[Dangerous Dan]

01:18 PM on 09/17/2010

Ask Timmy Geithner where the NY branch of theFed sent $2 trillin dollars while he was the head of te branch!

He left that post and fell off the radar somehow.

[verypragmatic]

04:49 PM on 09/18/2010

and YOU have to admit the facts that o the one hand we've had decades of the government sticking it's nose in mortgage lending, forcing banks to loan to people unqualified and on the other not enforcing laws on the books. Not prosecuting and putting people in jail who break the laws, people of position in companies, and allowing companies to fail, thereby enforcing a market culture that shuns failure. It would have been FAR cheaper and popular to fund a huge employment bailout to all worked affected by the crisis. The fat cats responsible would have been left out in the cold. Repubs and Dems across multiple administrations are repsonsible and play both sides against each other for power. One thing else is for sure... over thew last 100 years government has grown. T has not nor ever will, in it;s growth, help people. People need to help each other at the community level. Government should punish lawbreakers, protect form foreign and domestic threats and other wise stay out of our lives.

[guveqzero]

12:28 PM on 09/14/2010

The problem is that spending is the only idea being considered. What about tariffs on imports, or a type of VAT common in the rest of the world. That is, everytime a product during manufacturing goes accross borders, it is taxed. This encourages local manufacturing of products.

[Dangerous Dan]

01:23 PM on 09/17/2010

Social engineering through fiscal policy and law?

That sounds so "Tea Party."

Progressives do not want "You" to dictate their lifestyle or standards. 

[VoteThemAllOut]

11:22 AM on 09/14/2010

Who did what on increasing the national debt:
Date Dollar Amount
09/30/2009 11,909,829,003,511.75
09/30/2008 10,024,724,896,912.49
09/30/2007 9,007,653,372,262.48
09/30/2006 8,506,973,899,215.23
09/30/2005 7,932,709,661,723.50
09/30/2004 7,379,052,696,330.32
09/30/2003 6,783,231,062,743.62
09/30/2002 6,228,235,965,597.16
09/30/2001 5,807,463,412,200.06
09/30/2000 5,674,178,209,886.86

Request for money and Budgets come from the White House but the Congress decides how much the President gets, and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party. They controlled the budget process for FY 2008 and FY 2009, as well as FY 2010 and FY 2011.

For FY 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. A t that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets.

In the 2007 - 2009 cycle the dems increased the national debt $2.909 trillion; whereas, the repub controlled cycle 2000 - 2006 increase was $2.278.

Read the facts and weep.

[VoteThemAllOut]

11:30 AM on 09/14/2010

OOOPPPPSSSS! should read:
In the 2008 - 2009 cycle the dems increased the national debt $2.909 trillion; whereas, the repub controlled cycle 2000 - 2007 increase was $3.333.


By the way the current debt is $13.457 trillion which is a $4.450 trillion increase since the dems took control of contress.

[guveqzero]

12:33 PM on 09/14/2010

I say, who cares. I would like to see it double next year. The debt is only meaningful to China and Japan now. As our currency depreciates, jobs will return. Your obsession with debt is not healthy.

[ChasG]

03:33 AM on 09/14/2010

Change I can believe in:

It’s commonly understood the economy in any administration’s first year is consequence of policies in force the previous year.  Change doesn't start on inauguration day-- takes time to pass legislation, put it into effect, then see any results. 

Federal Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports in Bush presidency’s final year 4.5 million jobs were lost, and in the first 11 months of the Obama presidency another 4.5 million jobs were lost (Bush legacy). The data also show so far this year through August, employment has GROWN adding 1.5 million jobs

Unemployment has not improved much because young people add to the work force every year.  Also, unemployment stats don’t include people no longer collecting benefits, so when these people return to employment it has no effect on unemployment statistics.  But 1.5 million new jobs suggest the “Keynesian experiment” of stimulus is beginning to work.  Unemployment has dropped from 10% at the beginning of the year to 9.6%.  Not enough, but a definite trend reversal.  Expect a slow and bumpy ride back to full employment, but so far this year we’re adding jobs, not losing them.

Disbeliever?  Click or copy/Paste this NEW directlink below. 

http://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea3.pdf

[ChasG]

04:00 AM on 09/14/2010

http://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea3.pdf

this link will work if HuffPost software does not add > to the end of ".pdf"  I have no idea why HuffPost software is corrupting posts of links-- very annoying

[ChasG]

03:31 AM on 09/14/2010

This is all about rhetoric, not substance, which is the problem with politics generally.  Like using the word "bailout" to describe the TARP program, most of which has been repaid with $21 billion of interest added.  Sounds to me more like a temporary loan than a bailout, and TARP looks like an overall success from that standpoint (still two potential big failures yet to resolve-- GM and AIG). The words Obama (or anyone else) doesn't matter.  It's deeds, not words.  And ultimately it's results, and the economy is adding jobs this year.  That's a major turn around in a very short period of time.  And it's beginning to look like the "stimulus" (which we don't want to call a "stimulus" for fear of arousing thoughts of the blue pill) is beginning to work. 

[Henry Jose]

01:57 AM on 09/14/2010

Looking for a job? With new Health Care Plan, we are going to insure additional 33 Million people. There is going to be huge demand for Medical Assistants, Medical Billing, Medical Coding, Pharmacy Assistant & Pharmacy Technician across the nation. We can help you get a training during weekends and evenings and get a degree in few months. With the degree finding a job will be easy, free consultation available at http://bit.ly/akOTSz this is your chance

[graffitijoe]

07:44 PM on 09/14/2010

...not to mention IRS agents!

[Ted Vardalos]

01:47 AM on 09/14/2010

Stimulus is just a nice word to mask the reality of the re-distribution of wealth back to the financial elites that orchestrated the controlled demolition of the US economy with the help from corrupt and incompetent politicians. Truth Cafe' www.truthcafe.tumblr.com

[celticsrule]

12:17 AM on 09/14/2010

If you are unemployed and wondering why read this:

I found this on Sean Hannity’s forum. It’s from an employer who’s instructing other employers how to lay off Obama bots legally:

I want to take this time to advise you on how you should approach work layoffs in your place of work when you are the person who must choose the layoff targets. I own a small business of 36 employees. Before the 2008 Presidential election I had 47 employees but due to economic downturns I had to let 11 people go. As of tomorrow Friday 1/16/09 I am letting 3 more people go. There are normal criteria that many businesses will use to determine targets of layoffs. Generally speaking it is very bad to have….

HR problems in your employment history
Unexcused absences
Low performance ratings

would urge you to consider laying off the avid Obama supporters. Not everyone wears their politics on their sleeve at work but some do. Let them discuss the “Hope and Change” that Obama offers them at the unemployment line. Their votes helped bring about the economic mess and socialist programs that all of the taxpayers will have to burden. Let them pay the price of their job. The 3 employees of mine that will get their pink slips tomorrow afternoon are avid Obama supporters. They can watch his inauguration speech uninhibited by employment requirements. I encourage you to adopt the same policy for this countries sake.

[noaxe397]

12:09 AM on 09/14/2010

Well, there you go.  Dem inability to message and fight back has allowed the GOP to turn another word that describes policy into an epithet.

First it was health care reform, which no Dem dare mention.   Now stimulus.

Call it what we called it in the 60s and 70s:  pump priming.   That term implies the government is only trying to start the recovery, but it is the job of private enterprise (the pump) to keep the recovery going.

And, if the pump refuses to start, as is the case now, BLAME private enterprise and protect your agenda by saying "government is only the primer, the pump has to do the work."

[Ditmartian]

11:46 PM on 09/13/2010

Stigmalus

[Jack Reynolds]

11:40 PM on 09/13/2010

Check out my campaign ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMEHvvq5iVo&list=QL&playnext=1