The following is a re-post from my blog, Between The Columns.
Big surprise -- the public is becoming wary of the stimulus bill. The question asked in this poll was:
Do you favor or oppose the economic recovery package proposed by Barack Obama and the Congressional Democrats?
If you read the prior post at Between the Columns, you'd see that I made the case that the branding and the naming of the bill are completely out of sync, which is one of the primary sources of political rancor, and frankly, confusion. And the naming/branding divide shows up once again in this poll.
The stimulus bill is referred to the economic recovery package in the poll question, whereas the actual bill's name and cause is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill. That "reinvestment" bit is the elephant, if you will, in the room.
The Democrats are just itching for a fight if they're going to continue to push a bill that is both recovery and reinvestment, when the rest of the country thinks it's only about recovery.
As I stated in my prior post (in greater detail), this divergence of cause cannot be understated. Yet, I feel I am the lonely voice in the political blogosphere trying to raise this issue. If you can help raise awareness around this, please do. Framing this bill consistently is the first critical step toward getting a bill so important (and so expensive) right.