Amid skepticism on stimulus, Obama affirms 600,000 jobs

The president has not met some of the early goals he set for the program.

Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama billed it as an adrenaline jolt to a depleted economy — a $787 billion stimulus that would not only put people back to work, but underwrite new construction and energy projects the U.S. had long neglected.

But with the economy still sputtering and some economists questioning whether the program is meeting its goals, Obama doubled down on his promises, vowing to accelerate stimulus spending with the goal of creating or saving 600,000 jobs by summer’s end.

Emerging from a meeting with Cabinet officers, Obama sought to claim substantial progress but at the same time hold down expectations.

“We’ve done more than ever, faster than ever, more responsibly than ever, to get the gears of the economy moving again,” Obama said, and “we’re in a position to really accelerate.” Still, he acknowledged that job loss — while lower than expected in May — remained high, saying, “we’re still in the middle of a very deep recession” and “it’s going to take a considerable amount of time for us to pull out.”

While results from the stimulus program are difficult to measure, the evidence suggests so far the promised spending has been slow.

Only about 6 percent of the stimulus money was spent as of May 29th — about 100 days after Obama signed the stimulus bill into law.

And on Jan. 9, two of the president’s top economic advisers put out a report predicting that with the stimulus plan, the unemployment rate this year would not exceed 8 percent. It now stands at 9.4 percent.

That figure is higher than aides Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein said it would be even if the stimulus plan were never adopted.

“A lot of this is hokum. All along his (Obama’s) job numbers have kept changing according to the political environment,” said Peter Morici, a professor of international business at the University of Maryland.

Kevin Hassett, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank in Washington, put it more bluntly.

“The actual unemployment rate is worse than their baseline — suggesting that their stimulus plan was harmful. And yet, despite that, they’re asserting it has been successful. That shows an incredible amount of gall,” he said

Sensing the White House could be vulnerable on the issue, Republicans are pushing the argument the stimulus has failed.

While there are signs the recession is abating, more than three full months after the passage of the stimulus bill — March-through-May — the economy lost about 1.5 million jobs. Unemployment in that period jumped from 8.5 percent to 9.4 percent. The White House argues conditions would be even worse without the stimulus.

But the public may be getting impatient. A new Gallup poll shows that while Obama is personally very popular, people are not as happy with his stewardship of the economy.

A total of 51 percent disapproved of Obama’s handling of federal spending; compared to 45 percent who approved.

In the next phase of the stimulus plan, the White House said, it will expand on work begun in the first 100 days after the stimulus was enacted. The emphasis will be helping families cope with the recession and underwriting construction projects ready to go.