Washington Post Claims, Without Evidence, That Public is “Outraged” by Obama Spending
My friend J.T. points out this passage in Lori Montgomery’s Washington Post coverage of the budget:
The moves come as Republicans are pounding Obama for proposing a rapid increase in government spending and taxpayers are voicing anxiety and outrage about the gargantuan sums that Washington is already pouring into the economy and banking system.
I certainly expect RNC press releases to just kind of run everything together like this. But while there’s clear evidence of outrage at the AIG bonuses, opinion on banking system rescue is more mixed, and opinion on fiscal stimulus and Obama’s general economic performance is strongly positive. This is the most recent polling on the big picture that I’ve been able to see:
What’s definitely true is that Obama’s political opponents aren’t acting the way you would expect a minority party that’s lost two elections in a row and is facing popular proposals from a popular president to act. Certainly when George W. Bush and his agenda were popular, Democrats didn’t come close to mounting uniform opposition to it. But one shouldn’t mistake the GOP’s tactical choice to oppose Obama even though he and his agenda are popular with a situation in which he’s failing to get massive congressional support for his agenda because the public doesn’t support him. I think it’s fine for the GOP to say “damn the polls, we’re sticking to our views” but that’s what’s happening.
27 Responses to “Washington Post Claims, Without Evidence, That Public is “Outraged” by Obama Spending”
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March 25th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Plus, several articles about the proposed $3.6 trillion budget don’t bother to mention that last year’s budget was $3.1 trillion. If you don’t know that already, it sounds like Obama has just doubled or tripled the budget.
March 25th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
The GOP is simply following Karl Rove’s old dictum: If you repeat a lie enough times, the Press will assume it to be true.
I don’t blame the GOP. It is a proven, sound political tactic.
The collapse of the Mainstream Media can’t come soon enough.
March 25th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
What’s definitely true is that Obama’s political opponents aren’t acting the way you would expect a minority party that’s lost two elections in a row and is facing popular proposals from a popular president to act.
It’s not? I fully expected the Republicans to vigorously engage in scorched earth, bitter-ender tactics. Didn’t you read Nixonland, Matt? And it wouldn’t matter a bit if the president enjoyed Westminster-style (or, hell, GOP-style) party discipline in the legislature. Sigh.
March 25th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
People like Matt who blithely dismiss the fiscal disaster that’s in the D.C. making should take a much closer look at what happened in the latest UK gilt auction.
March 25th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
But Matt, the tea parties!!!!
See, if two or more people are expressing outrage, and those two or more people have at some point paid taxes, the WaPo is free to turn that into “Taxpayers are expressing outrage!!” Technically, it’s true.
March 25th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
People like Matt who blithely dismiss the fiscal disaster that’s in the D.C. making should take a much closer look at what happened in the latest UK gilt auction.
People dimiss it because it is economic disaster (which requires unorthodox fiscal solutions), not a fiscal disaster. This is yet another right-wing lie that the public is buying. But fine, keep it up if you want. Read the economics blogs — you are losing even the (true) fiscal conservatives with this crap. They understand measures such as ROI.
When things are indeed a fiscal disaster — like the taxpayer subsidized auction of toxic assets — then Obama is rightly criticized. See Krugman’s post on the poor ROI of this action.
March 25th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
I know Al is a fucking moron, so he really doesn’t know any better, but a) Bush didn’t run on fixing social security, and b) more popular than John Kerry does not equal popular.
March 25th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
All depends on how you ask the question. The same source Matt cites also had this information
=============================================================
“Which of the following concerns you more — that the federal government will spend too MUCH money to try to boost the economy and as a result will drive up the budget deficit, OR, that the federal government will spend too LITTLE money to try to boost the economy and as a result the recession will be longer?”
Spend Too Much Spend Too Little Unsure
2/26 – 3/1/09 61 29 10
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You can make the case that the WaPo might be overstating “anxiety and outrage” over deficits, but cherry-picking polls to pretend people aren’t concerned at all isn’t productive either
March 25th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
In general it seems like polls that leave “Democrats” and “Obama” out and simply ask if people agree with the stimulus or the budget typically are negative towards it, but polls like the one above that explicitly mention the writers and signers of those bills still show positive numbers.
There is definitely still a starry eyed mysticism about Democrats and Obama that is taking a while to wear off.
I’m sure if you had asked Republicans if they agreed with invading sovereign nations on duplicitous information, many would say no. If you then added Bush and the Republicans invading Iraq they would change their tune quickly.
March 25th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
It seems like public outrage to the Villagers when all you hear are the echoes of other right-wing media outlets.
If they would get outside of the Beltway more and stop thinking that Drudge, Beck & Limbaugh represent the majority, they would know this.
March 25th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Social Security “reform” was never popular. It was a hugely unpopular proposal that Bush realized would cost him political capital to push.
When presented with a choice of which theoretical problem they consider more frightening, people pick one. That’s nice, but it really doesn’t tell us whether people think either of those theoretical problems are happening.
March 25th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Seems to me the public wants to go back to Walbrook and stay with with Charlie Babbitt.
March 25th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Hey, no need to get so worked up over this…We live in a left-leaning country right? Putting us on course for 80% debt to GDP for health care, sopping the rich, and saving the environment, won’t have any doubters in this country.
March 25th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Hey, if I say my name loud enough…I can hear it in here!
IT’S A LEFT-LEANING COUNTRY…Wow, that just bounced right back at me!
March 25th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Kafka,
That’s a good point. Wonder if we’ll see a post on that one. I’ll bet the Brits were still carrying on with “the Sun will never set on the British Empire” as the rest of the world told them to shove that paper up their ass.
But that will never, ever happen here…because we’ve got so many rich people to tax and so many corporations to take over…we’ll be able to pay for all of this. What does CBO know anyway? Someone ought to tell Nancy Pelosi that she did a horrible job picking the folks to serve over there…When we say nonpartisan, we MEAN nonpartisan.
March 25th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Better trolls please…
March 25th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Andy,
I thought that was pretty funny. So I guess you’re one that’s not worried about these polls. I mean, why is there the need to disprove something that’s so patently false. The country is with people like you guys…you ought to just keep going, no?
March 25th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Shockingly, this turns out to depend on how you word the question. From the same site:
NBC/WSJ 2/26-3/1: “Which of the following concerns you more — that the federal government will spend too MUCH money to try to boost the economy and as a result will drive up the budget deficit, OR, that the federal government will spend too LITTLE money to try to boost the economy and as a result the recession will be longer?”
Spend Too Much: 61%
Spend Too Little: 29%
Unsure: 10%
USA Today/Gallup 2/20-2/29: “Regardless of whether you favor or oppose the steps the government has taken in recent months to address economic problems, how worried are you about each of the following: very worried, somewhat worried, not too worried, or not worried at all? How about [see below]?”
“The amount of money being added to the federal debt”
Very Worried: 54%
Somewhat Worried: 28%
Not Too Worried: 11%
Not at All Worried: 5%
Unsure: 1%
Same Poll: “In thinking about the trade-offs between spending government money to improve the economy versus adding considerable amounts of money to the federal debt, which do you think is the greater risk: spending too little to improve the economy or adding too much to the federal debt?” (Options rotated)
Spending Too Little: 37%
Adding Too Much to Debt: 59%
About Right: 4%
March 25th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Where’s the poll that asks:
Do you understand what the banking crisis is?
Do you know how to solve it?
Do you understand the reasoning behind the stimulus?
March 25th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
So I guess you’re one that’s not worried about these polls.
The one that shows about 2:1 support for Barack Obama’s economic plan? The one that shows the public supporting Obama’s stimulus plan, and blaming the Republicans for the economic crisis instead of Obama, by 20 point margins?
No. I don’t imagine he’s terribly worried about those polls. Why would he be?
March 25th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
joe from Lowell Says:
March 25th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
So I guess you’re one that’s not worried about these polls.
The one that shows about 2:1 support for Barack Obama’s economic plan? The one that shows the public supporting Obama’s stimulus plan, and blaming the Republicans for the economic crisis instead of Obama, by 20 point margins?
No. I don’t imagine he’s terribly worried about those polls. Why would he be?
===========================================================
Oh you bet, we only believe the polls that support our position and ignore the ones that don’t. No worries!
March 26th, 2009 at 2:52 am
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March 26th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Oh you bet, we only believe the polls that support our position and ignore the ones that don’t. No worries!
What are you talking about? The questions you highlight are THE SAME POLL as the question I mentioned. THE SAME PEOPLE saying they would consider it a problem if the government spent too much and blew up the deficit SUPPORT Obama and his economic program by a 2:1 margin or better, in THE SAME POLL.
The responses to the questions you’re focusing on don’t cause me to be worried about the effect of that debt-aversion eroding Obama’s support because THE SAME PEOPLE who express concern about the debt getting too high are strongly supportive of Obama.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
joe from Lowell Says:
March 26th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Oh you bet, we only believe the polls that support our position and ignore the ones that don’t. No worries!
What are you talking about? The questions you highlight are THE SAME POLL as the question I mentioned. THE SAME PEOPLE saying they would consider it a problem if the government spent too much and blew up the deficit SUPPORT Obama and his economic program by a 2:1 margin or better, in THE SAME POLL.
The responses to the questions you’re focusing on don’t cause me to be worried about the effect of that debt-aversion eroding Obama’s support because THE SAME PEOPLE who express concern about the debt getting too high are strongly supportive of Obama.
===========================================================
If you would bother to click through to Matt’s source you’d see that they were different polls – not the same people.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I have been a pretty regular reader of the Washington Post online for the last 4 yrs. Their headlines during Obama’s first 80 days or whatever have been really annoying me. When I skim their front page I feel like Obama’s already failed and doom is at his door. Its weird. I’m sure they’re not the only ones, but I feel like they are oddly anti-Obama biased? They also gave amazing amounts of play to the AIG bonus outrage, but I don’t understand – where was this outrage in the Fall? Everything is not new, this is not the first stimulus plan. Where was the full weeek of public outrage headlines at Paulson? I was outraged. Where was a week of top banner headlines about record oil company profits last summer?
There are alot of things substantive and complex things going on now, with Obama, the congress, and around the world.
I haven’t always felt like the Washington Post is manipulating public opinion, whether for hits or for storyline, but I am lately.
I wish they would’ve been more skeptical during the Bush administration.
I feel liek they are claiming alot of public emotions in their articles that is not backed up.
Do we lay this at the feet of bad reporters? Small overworked staffs? Aggressive on message conservative pundits? Or editorial orchestration?
The only dude I trust there now are Froomkin (who des a wonderful job) and the rad Wizards beat reporters (and one of them leaves today)
April 9th, 2009 at 5:39 am
This is quite a up-to-date information. I’ll share it on Delicious.