White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" this morning to discuss President Obama's economic stimulus plan and the push to garner support for it.
Assessing Obama's performance last night at his first prime-time news conference, Gibbs said the president is "by far and away our best weapon" in explaining and promoting the stimulus.
Support for President Obama's economic stimulus package has slipped since January, while Obama himself enjoys favorable impressions among Americans, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center.
According to the study, 51 percent of Americans think the stimulus package is a "good idea," compared to 57 percent in a similar survey published in early January.
But as Obama has gone on a media blitz in support of the package, he enjoys high ratings on favorable attributes: 92 percent view him as a good communicator, 87 percent see him as warm and friendly, and 66 percent view the president as bringing a "new approach to politics," according to Pew.
Pew surveyed 1,303 Americans Feb. 4-8 for the poll.
President Obama traveled to Elkhart, Ind. today, holding a town-hall meeting in support of his economic stimulus package and telling the crowd that the bill is not perfect, but that inaction is not an option for federal policymakers.
In addition to taking audience questions, Obama made remarks from a podium at the event.
"I'm not going to tell you that this bill is perfect. I mean, it's coming out of Washington, it's going through Congress," Obama said, receiving laughs from the audience. "It's not perfect, but it is the right size, it is the right scope, broadly speaking, it has the right priorities to create jobs that will jump-start our economy and transform this economy for the 21st century."
"I can't tell you with 100 percent certainty that every single item in this plan will work exactly as we hoped, but what I can tell you is I can say with complete confidence that endless delay or paralysis in Washington in the face of this crisis will only bring deepening disaster. I can tell you that doing nothing is not an option," Obama said.
President Obama is winning the public opinion fight over the economic stimulus package under consideration in Congress, according to a new poll from Gallup.
Obama enjoys a 67 percent approval rating on how he has handled the government's efforts to pass a stimulus bill, while Republicans in Congress have earned a 31 percent approval rating on how they've handled the stimulus effort, according to the poll.
Congressional Democrats ranked in the middle, with a 48 percent approval rating on the stimulus.
Disapproval ratings reflected the same order. Obama collected a disapproval rating of 25 percent on the stimulus; Congressional Democrats, 42 percent; and Congressional Republicans, 58 percent.
Gallup surveyed 1,012 U.S. adults on Feb. 4 for the poll. Its margin of error is +/- three percentage points.
As Republicans blast the Senate stimulus package as wasteful and call for a greater focus on tax cuts, the Senate Democratic leadership is looking to strip some of those cuts from the package along with other spending, according to Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).
Snowe, a centrist Republican who could be considered a swing vote on the stimulus by Democrats, says she was approached by the Democratic leadership and asked to work directly with them on a compromise that would trim some tax cuts from the $920 billion Senate package.
Snowe spoke with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) this morning, according to her office.
"I was approached this morning and asked to work directly with leadership to amend the tax section of the stimulus bill in order to develop compromise language that could pass the Senate," Snowe said in a statement released by her office this afternoon.
Popular support for the stimulus package being deliberated by Congress has fallen over the last two weeks, dropping to 37 percent today, according to a new poll from Rasmussen.
Two weeks ago, 45 percent of Americans supported the package according to Rasmussen's polling. Last week, support dropped to 42 percent.
Opposition to the stimulus, which Rasmussen reported at 34 percent on Jan. 21, has risen to 43 percent.
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For the first time since November, former Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) sent an e-mail to his list campaign's list of supporters. His message: oppose the stimulus.
McCain asked supporters to sign a petition opposing Democrats' package totaling more than $800 billion, asserting that the bill simply creates more aimlessly irresponsible spending and fails to address the real issues plaguing the nation such as record unemployment and crippling national debt.
"I have long been a fighter against wasteful spending in Washington and long an advocate for a balanced budget -- that will never change. I realize we face extraordinary challenges with our economy today, but that is not an excuse for more irresponsibly from Washington. I hope you will join me in saying no to this stimulus package as it currently exists by signing this petition," McCain wrote.
McCain acknowledged President Obama's outreach to Republicans but wrote that "the time for talking is over."
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The Senate on Monday formally began debating an economic stimulus plan of more than $800 billion, two weeks before the self-imposed approval deadline of the President's Day weekend.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) warned of "long days with numerous votes" on the plan, which passed the House on a 244-188 vote last week. Reid said late nights and weekend sessions are possible.
"There's work we have to do at home, but we're not going to be able to do that important work until we finish this economic recovery legislation, and we're going to be as thoughtful and as considerate on both sides as necessary," Reid said.
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While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) did not take a stand on whether the GOP would filibuster the nearly $1 trillion economic stimulus package at a press conference Monday morning, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) indicated he wanted to do so.
Shelby told a local county gathering in Alabama that he was
President Obama must be embarrassed by the economic stimulus package passed by the House of Representatives last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggested today.
"The president indicated he wanted this to be about a bipartisan proposal. I must say that, surely, privately, he's embarrassed about the product that came out of the House. The only bipartisanship was the opposition to it, all of the Republicans and a number of Democrats," McConnell said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
"I can't believe that the president isn't embarrassed about the products that have been produced so far," McConnell added later in the interview.
McConnell called for a smaller stimulus without earmarks, focusing on tax relief and federal help for homeowners.
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