“This isn’t some abstract debate.”
Barack Obama tells the House Democratic Retreat (the right audience for the kind of emotional contagion he needs) exactly why the stimulus is critical: the job numbers; the unemployment claims; the would-be hard workers forced onto food stamps. He even gets in a plug–pun accidental but now intended–for hybrid cars.
His tone in addressing Republican zealots who don’t understand, or don’t care, that the best stimulus is, in fact, government spending might be summarized in Ring Lardner’s words: ” ‘Shut up,’ he explained.” (That’s around the end of the short video clip. The President does not, in fact, use those words.)
The House Democrats already knew all of this. The intended audience is us; more specifically, your friends who read fewer blogs than you do. Send it along.
Afterthought: Now that the times have a’changed, can’t we fire the mole at C-SPAN who gave the clip the headline “President Obama Attends Democrat Conference”?