Hope and Fail

White House: Stimulus wasn’t really meant to stimulate the economy

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and other administration officials told reporters today that the stimulus package passed in February was never meant to "stimulate" the economy.

According to “off-camera” comments made today by Obama administration officials, the president never intended for the economic stimulus package to actually stimulate the economy.

From ABC News:

Turns out the $787 billion “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” (AARA) was not designed for full economic recovery, but rather to “stabilize” the downturn.  That’s the word from White House officials today, who held off-camera briefings with reporters on how the AARA is working so far.

“This legislation was designed to cushion the downturn,” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. “That’s why we have always talked about this as one function of economic recovery.”

Gibbs take, that the stimulus package “was designed to cushion the downturn,” is pure poppicock.

We must remember that back in January, the president pitched the stimulus package as a job-creation machine, intended to get the economy moving, not simply cushion it’s continued decline:

That is why I have moved quickly to work with my economic team and leaders of both parties on an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that will immediately jumpstart job creation and long-term growth.

What’s more, the statement the president made when he signed the $787 billion bill promised the same:

The Act provides a direct fiscal boost to help lift our Nation from the greatest economic crisis in our lifetimes and lay the foundation for further growth. This recovery plan will help to save or create as many as three to four million jobs by the end of 2010, the vast majority of them in the private sector.

… this Act we begin the process of restoring the economy and making America a stronger and more prosperous Nation.

And, as Ed Morrissey at Hot Air notes, the White House was calling it a “stimulus” package in the two days leading up to today’s relabeling of the package.

It’s clear the White House is walking back its rhetoric because the stimulus hasn’t worked. So what will happen next? Will Gibbs one day be telling reporters “off-camera” that the cap-and-trade bill was never meant to clean up the environment? Or that the health care reform package was nevet meant to provide health care?

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