Posted on Tue, Feb. 10, 2009

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Executing stimulus will test leadership

President Barack Obama warned Congress last week that America would face "catastrophe" if members dawdle too long over the economic stimulus bill. For Americans out of work or foreclosed from their homes or whose savings are halved -- meaning almost all Americans -- his use of the future tense may have seemed inappropriate. They are angry and fearful now.

He was trying to pressure Congress, which seems likely to pass something this week. His signing of the bill will present at once an extraordinary leadership opportunity and an extraordinary set of hazards.

In the latter category is the possibility that it won't work -- that a year or two down the road, the threatened "catastrophe" will be upon us. So he must be careful not to stake his 3-week-old administration's credibility wholly on that main chance.

Most congressional Republicans are determined not to stake theirs on it, and so will buy hazard insurance with their negative votes rather than shoring up Americans' confidence. After all, if it's going to pass anyway because of mostly Democratic votes, and if it might not work, they can sigh earnestly, "We told you so."

They contend that the spending parts of the bill will take too long and that their magical tax cuts, particularly for businesses, are the quickest and most reliable stimulus tool.

Too many Democrats, meanwhile, have tried to make up for eight years of frustration all at once by dressing up their favorite causes in fancy stimulus skirts.

So the version that Obama gets will be typical congressional big-issue sausage, and he will sign it.

A huge majority of Americans want that to happen because they believe it will work. Most of us don't have an educational or rational basis for believing that: We badly need to believe it, and a lot of smart people are saying it will, so we think we hear the cavalry bugles just over the hill.

Given that things could get a great deal worse, the signing would be a good time for the president to do some leveling.

George W. Bush chose to wage an unnecessary war without bothering to justify it to the American people or requiring sacrifice from them, except for military families, of course. Bill Clinton tried to remake the health care system in what amounted to a locked room, without trying to engage either the support or advice of ordinary people. Neither choice worked for them or the nation.

The stimulus bill is only a blueprint based on the best thinking that the administration, Congress, economists and the political process can cobble together to address a broader and more pressing task than ridding the world of one dictator or repairing one economic segment.

A plan is not a solution; solution lies in execution, and that reality presents Obama with a leadership opportunity.

Every American knows the personal cost of the crisis. What most do not know is how to be a part of the recovery. We have a history of responding effectively to crises once we understand what is required.

When he signs the bill, he needs to be clear that government action alone cannot fix the problem because the economy is the amalgam of individual decisions -- then say what we can do to help.

Davis Merritt is a former editor of The Eagle. Reach him at dmerritt9@cox.net.

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