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On a light news day, only the continuing debate on Capitol Hill over the ailing economy was newsworthy enough to warrant coverage by a reporter on all three newscasts. So, by default, the President's proposed fiscal stimulus legislation was Story of the Day as Barack Obama held talks with Congressional Democrats and a bipartisan panel of governors as he tried to surmount Republican opposition in the Senate. ABC led with the stimulus. NBC chose continuing hard times in the retail sector. CBS, with substitute anchor Maggie Rodriguez, kicked off with the weather. The entire Kentucky National Guard has been called out to join the commonwealth's clean-up from last week's icestorm.

Unidentified White House aides told NBC's Chuck Todd why they believe the stimulus legislation is running into obstacles: "Republicans have done a better job at selling their position that the Obama plan is more about spending for government programs than creating jobs." Spending for government programs is exactly what governors and mayors and county officials are in search of, ABC's Jake Tapper pointed out. He smelled "fiscal desperation" from the 46 states and "hundreds of cities" facing budget shortfalls. In Republican-governed California "the safety net is falling out for the unemployed, the disabled and those who provide childcare."

Both ABC's Tapper and CBS' Chip Reid quoted President Obama's assertion that the differences between his plan and its Republican critics in the Senate are "modest." "Far from modest," was how CBS' Reid quoted their response. "Considerable," was the way ABC's Tapper put it. ABC's George Stephanopoulos predicted that a combination of tax credits for housing, increased expenditure on infrastructure and the removal of "the more unpopular spending" would attract the support of "maybe ten Republican senators."


Andrew Tyndall 2/3/09 10:39:39 pm

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