Remember, the Republicans unanimously voted (1)against Clinton's economic plan (they were wrong); and (2)for the Bush economic plan (they were disastrously wrong) ! The House Republican's unanimous rejection of Obama's stimulus plan is a good omen.

will do interviews tonight with ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox News

For pity sakes, skip Fox and do PBS.

Excuses, excuses. Bottom line: The Republicans have one this round. Face it...the GOP is a terrible ruling party, but the "party of NO" is a pretty good opposition party. Obstruct, deny, fight. And the media will eat out of their hands.

The Republicans are showing that their strategic objective is Rudh Limbaugh's -- they want to see Obama fail.

Obama wants bi-partisan support for his stimulus plan. That is a political objective, which the President will not reach due to Republican posturing.

Obama's strategic objective should be responding quickly and decisively to the economic crisis. If that means relying on 58 Democratic senators and arm-twisting 2 Republicans until they cry uncle, so be it.

Steve Benen: At this point, the public overwhelmingly wants Congress to pass a stimulus bill, but 38% support Obama's proposal as is, while 37% want to see "major" changes.

And whose fault is this?

Josh Marshall: Without a clear argument about why this whole exercise is necessary, it's inevitable that the debate will be ground down to the inconsequential minutiae which is the aim of its opponents. Big things need a president to argue for them.

Same question.

Obama will learn that Republicans look at his attempts at ending partisanship in only one way..."How can we take advantage of this to further our agenda?"

He needs to grab hold of the Bully microphone and make his case. He is frittering away precious public support by trying to be overly "nice".

To hell with interviews, Obama should do an address to the nation carried by all these dumbass networks. He circumvents the inane questions and controls the message.

Screw the press interviews Obama take your case directly to the people. Tell the general public exactly where the press and the repubs are laying about this stimulus package and tell us exactly how the spending, NOT THE TAX CUTS, will help get this country and it's economy back on the right track. All that will come out of these interviews is the Republican press trying get their point across. Tell the voting public that you need us to get behind this and burn up the phone lines and internet servers to all of congress letting them know that we want a stimulus that helps the middle class and not the rich who are the only ones the repubs want to see get everything.

I suppose there are 41 GOP Senators who all imagine themselves to be modern day Jefferson Smiths, fighting gamely to protect America from the James Taylors of the world, certain in their righteousness that if the graft corrupted Willet's Creek Dam gets built the Republic will fall.

As much as it pains me to say it Jefferson Smith was as wrong as any modern day Don Quixote could be. Big bills need some fat on them to help grease the wheels of legislation. And if all the GOP can find in Obama's bill is 2% fat, that's looking pretty lean to me.

If the Republicans want a smaller net bill, raise taxes on the rich.

The Republican Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of America's Ultra-Rich Ruling Class, Inc.

The "Washington press establishment" -- which is part of the handful of giant corporations that own virtually all of America's mass media -- is also a wholly-owned subsidiary of America's Ultra-Rich Ruling Class, Inc.

How surprising it is, then, that "the cable networks continue to tip the scales in favor of Republicans by booking like twice or even three times as many Republicans as Democrats to discuss the Stimulus Bill" and that all of that "discussion" is relentlessly focused on giving more tax cuts to America's Ultra-Rich Ruling Class, Inc. and on undermining any attempts by a populist liberal President to govern in the public interest rather than the corporate interest.

The house bill stinks. Get over it. All I hear here is Stevie wants to spend other peoples money. Go earn your own.

It'll be Obama's job to draw attention to the forest, not the trees.

Whereupon, we will likely see the adult children pull out the matches and carry on their Jihad for Inanity.

Look, we all know the Republicans are a bunch of political hacks and fools when it comes to this economic crisis that was aided immeasurably by their actions, but why does Obama have to make their job so easy?

Yes, of course, Obama should take his case directly to the American people and not fool around with cozy little interviews. More importantly, our president needs to understand that his political capital is diminishing on a daily basis, what with his embrace of old-time D.C. politics and insistence that some plain old tax cheats and lobbyists are somehow the only people in a nation of 300 million qualified for some critical jobs.

Is our new president truly a reformer, a populist looking out for ALL of the American people? Or is he just another slick politician? Inquiring minds want to know.

More importantly, our president needs to understand that his political capital is diminishing on a daily basis

I don't know how you get to that. His approval ratings is hovering right around 70%. And why is giving interviews on the major networks evening news not taking his case to the people?

"We learned Republicans, though they can't win a vote, can win an argument,"

You know that may be interesting, historically it's been almost universally the other way around.

Knowing he'd scheduled these one-on-one MSM interviews all afternoon to push the stimulus package, he might have been better off to ask Daschle and Killefer to wait a day.

Much of his time in the interviews will be spent answering questions about them, and MSNBC.com (my favorite target this afternoon, apparently) is leading the interview story not with a pro-stimulus quote, but with the headline "OBAMA: 'I SCREWED UP'"

Your posting is a big strawman.

Very few people disagree that a stimulus is needed. But many people think that this particular bill is a turkey.

You're falsely claiming that opponents of this legislation are opposing a stimulus in general.

Furthermore you (and dems in general) are whipping up hysteria and a sense of crisis in order to jam bad legislation down the public's throat. Where have we seen (accusations of) this before?

Furthermore you (and dems in general) are whipping up hysteria and a sense of crisis in order to jam bad legislation down the public's throat. Where have we seen (accusations of) this before?

Job losses are expected to top one million for this month when data is released Friday. And most economists think the jobless rate will top 10 percent this year. Hysteria you say.

I call hysteria and hyprocisy and general bullshit that wingnuts, in general, and you in particular, crowing about massive wasteful spending when they could only tease out 2% of the Stimulus Bill to back their claim. And then blocking extra infrastructure money they had been hours earlier claiming that that's what they wanted. On second thought, the GOP behaviour is more like just plain old Batshit Insane.

To hell with interviews, Obama should do an address to the nation carried by all these dumbass networks. He circumvents the inane questions and controls the message.

Screw the press interviews Obama take your case directly to the people.

Exactly -- a fireside chat. FDR gave his first one eight days after he was inaugurated. Obama should have done the same thing. USE THE BULLY PULPIT. USE YOUR SKILL AS A SPEAKER. SET THE TERMS OF THE DEBATE.

Very few people disagree that a stimulus is needed. But many people think that this particular bill is a turkey.

If by "very few people" you mean the Republican Leaders in the House and Senate -- John Boehner and Jim DeMint -- who are on record saying that stimulus by spending will not work, then maybe you're correct.

Except they don't count as few people, and a lot of other Republicans believe the same way.

If you have a specific criticism of this bill, post it. Otherwise toddle along.

Yes, but Obama is very much to blame himself. He is wasting his mandate amidst a crisis by engaging in back-room deals to appoint more Republicans, and he is not explaining loud and clear to the American people why we are in a masive crisis and why robust and sustained government spending is our only hope to get out of it. He is AWOL -- and all of us who supported him have a right to ask why...

My definition of wasteful spending is Iraq. We could also go into the ways it has cost us besides debt to China.

That answer should shut up all those who voted for Bush and supported the war. Who's left? You covered "a"?

If you want a stimulus bill, have Larry Summers and some economists shape it. The administration, like the Republicans, seems eager to avoid responsibility and pass the buck to political hacks like Nancy Pelosi, who have no inhibitions about porking the country for votes.

At this point, the public overwhelmingly wants Congress to pass a stimulus bill, but 38% support Obama's proposal as is, while 37% want to see "major" changes.

FYI, these numbers from Rasmussen, as Nate Silver pointed out, are the weakest of any polling on the stimulus. They may be an outlier, and in addition, they used a "likely voter" model. I tend to agree with Nate that it's hard to understand what "likely voter" means outside of the context of an election, or why it's applicable to issue polling.

They may be an outlier, and in addition, they used a "likely voter" model. I tend to agree with Nate that it's hard to understand what "likely voter" means outside of the context of an election, or why it's applicable to issue polling.

Everything is "in the context of" the next election, and likely voters are applicable to issue polling because that's whose opinions members of Congress are most concerned about (insofar as they care about opinion in the electorate at all), since those are the people who are most likely to decide elections.