From the Wall Street Journal, first quoting President Obama who addressed a House Democratic retreat: “So then you get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill. What do you think a stimulus is? (Laughter and applause.) That’s the whole point. No seriously. (Laughter.) That’s the point. (Applause.)”
The editorial then comments: “So there it is: Mr. Obama is now endorsing a sort of reductionist Keynesianism that argues that any government spending is an economic stimulus. This is so manifestly false that we doubt Mr. Obama really believes it.”
But Obama does believe it. He told us so, and it is consistent with other statements of his that display economic illiteracy. Unless he takes a crash course or starts to parrot the economists around him, expect more such statements.
5:37 pm on February 7, 2009
