Obama, a Democrat's View

During the presidential election of 2008, Barack Obama enjoyed the backing of just about his entire party (excluding some disappointed Clinton supporters). Now that he has taken office and has proposed his economic stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, many moderate Democrats aren’t as supportive.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan is an encompassing plan to create new jobs; enhance technology and energy efficiency; and upgrade/improve roads, bridges and schools. Many economists believe this plan is one of the best ways to pull our economy out of recession. So what’s the problem?

More liberal Congressional Democrats do not believe the plan goes far enough. Unfortunately, many Republicans think the plan goes too far in the direction of social welfare and less in the direction of helping small businesses and allowing the effects to trickle down to consumers. Hence, there’s the problem of trying to please his own party and the opposition party in order to ensure quick passage of a much-needed bill.

The Democrats believe the program should focus more on job creation and infrastructure improvements (particularly in the energy sector) versus tax cuts (which are included in the bill). Senate Democrats also want to include a provision for bankruptcy courts to have the ability to change the terms of home loans - which is opposed by Republicans.

President Obama has stated that quick passage of the bill is necessary to help the economy begin to improve. Unfortunately, it is impossible to please everybody. Conservative Democrats and Republicans are concerned with the amount of spending in the bill leading to an increased deficit. But more liberal Democrats are chiefly concerned that not enough money is spent on social programs and improvements in infrastructure.

Despite opposition from conservative members of the Democratic Party as well as the Republicans, President Obama has some pretty powerful friends. Speaker of the House and fellow Democrat Nancy Pelosi has called for passage of the bill by President’s Day. As a staunch proponent of this bill, Speaker Pelosi has also stated that if the bill is not passed by President’s Day, then the House will not recess for the day.

By and large, though, Democrats view this bill and President Obama favorably. After all, Obama’s economic plan is a far cry from the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which introduced the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), a $700 billion financial market bailout.

TARP got off to a rocky start when former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson went against the clear intent of the bill (buying up “troubled assets” such as bad loans from banks and other financial institutions) to invest the initial $350 billion directly in the beleaguered institutions. More oversight has been called for, but ultimately, TARP will do virtually nothing to help the average American.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, on the other hand, adheres to the Democratic ideas of spending federal funds to improve the state of the nation. Democrats are pleased with the infrastructure, electricity (including alternative power sources), education and other means of creating jobs.

Recently, Rep. Barney Frank (Democrat – MA), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, appeared on Larry King Live to defend the economic package. He pointed out that the plan created jobs in ways many Republicans and conservative Democrats were decrying as adding pork, such as providing money to fight sexually transmitted diseases. Rep. Frank asked pointedly, “[D]o you think people fight sexually transmitted diseases as volunteers?”

His point is valid. Many on the conservative side tend to view those parts of the stimulus package that promote improvements in infrastructure as the only ones that create jobs. However, manual labor is not the only job option out there.

Rep. Frank also pointed out that many Democrats believe the initial $350 billion from TARP was mishandled by the Bush administration. He further supported President Obama by categorically stating the second $350 billion provided by TARP would be spent in better ways.

Later in the same Larry King segment, Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist, also talked up the plan. Begala stated he believes Obama’s plan can be trusted, as many American people, especially many Democrats, trust Obama himself. He also compared President Obama’s plan to FDR’s New Deal in that it calls for greater transparency and oversight of the money being spent.

Transparency from the Obama Administration is reassuring to many Americans. As the Bush Administration was exiting, no one had any real idea how the money was getting spent or where Secretary Paulson was spending it.

The majority of the Democratic Party is standing firmly behind President Obama. Those Democratic detractors of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan are mainly opposed to one of two things: tax cuts added to garner Republican votes or too much spending that could lead to a greater deficit. But no matter what compromises he makes in order to engender support, President Obama should not hold out for universal popularity, in either the Democratic or Republican parties.