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President Barack Obama has the same complaint about the journalistic coverage of his fiscal stimulus proposal that Tyndall Report made here and here. The most highly publicized criticisms concern the most marginal of details, a $825bn proposal lambasted for line items in the mere millions. He nailed that point in all three interviews.
"Of all the things that some opponents of the package have talked about, if you tally all those up, they amount to less than 1% of the entire package"--to NBC anchor Brian Williams.
"Most of the programs that have been criticized as part of this package amount to less than 1% of the overall package"--to ABC anchor Charles Gibson.
"People have plucked out this program or that program that does not look particularly stimulative…If you add all that stuff up, it accounts for less than 1% of the overall package"--to CBS anchor Katie Couric.
As for Couric, she cannot have been paying attention. In response to the President's point, she asked a follow-up that exemplified precisely the nickel-and-dime mentality that he had just criticized. "Let me mention some of the spending in this package: $6.2bn for home weatherization; $100m for children to learn green construction; $50m for port modernization, water and wastewater infrastructure needs in Guam; $50m for the National Endowment for the Arts." Check out the expression on Obama's face as he listens. He cannot believe his ears.
And anyway, what is the grudge Couric holds against Guam? Its sewage does not deserve proper treatment?
A nonsensical question by ABC's Gibson--although not as glaringly flawed as Couric's--betrayed his lack of attention to the very Economics 101 tutorials that his business correspondent Betsy Stark taught us here and here last week. "There is a lot of people who have said it is a spending bill and not a stimulus," Gibson inquired. Yet, by definition, a demand-side fiscal stimulus of a recessionary economy consists of deficit-financed government spending. Charlie! Pay attention to Betsy!
On the other hand, Gibson and Obama had the most playful exchange. "Did haste make waste?" the anchor asked. There is a "need for speed," replied the President.
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