Biden: Now the stimulus is working … really!
In the course of about two months, Veep Joe Biden has gone from saying the stimulus package was working, to saying it wasn't meant to "jolt" the economy and back to saying it's working.
If Joe Biden were the governor of California, and not the vice president, we’d call this move the “triple flip.”
Just nine days ago, the veep wrote in the New York Times that the $787 billion stimulus package the president signed in February wasn’t meant to give a jolt to the economy. That was after he said in June that it was designed to, uhm, jolt the economy.
But then, after meeting with the White House economic team, Biden says the stimulus plan is clearly working.
From the Associated Press:
“I can tell you today, without reservation, the Recovery Act is working,’’ Biden told reporters after a White House meeting with members of the administration’s economic team.
Nearly six months after Obama signed the stimulus program into law, the administration is trying to counter criticism, as well as perceptions, that the program has failed to create thousands of promised jobs. Obama credited the stimulus last week for helping “put the brakes on the recession’’ after the Commerce Department said the economy had shrunk by just 1 percent in the second quarter, a better-than-expected performance that was the strongest indication yet that the economic downturn has begun to wind down.
So now the Recovery Act is working, based on the fact that the economy shrunk — shrunk — by 1 percent in the second quarter.
Just as a reminder, the White House line on July 16 was that the president never intended for the economic stimulus package to actually stimulate the economy.
So is this the new story line, or will Biden tell us later that the administration once again, “misread the economy?”
Sources:
The Associated Press, Aug. 5, 2009
Biden contends stimulus working
The New York Times, July 26, 2009
What You Might Not Know About the Recovery
ABC News Political Punch, July 16, 2009
