THE RECOVERY BILL

by RAY FLEMING
PRESIDENT Obama went to Denver, Colorado, where he was nominated as Democratic candidate for the presidency last summer, to sign the Bill that will provide 787 billion dollars for programmes designed to get the American economy moving again, preserve and save jobs and cut taxes for the middle class. The ceremony, shown live on TV, was an authentic American political occasion with the President and Vice President Biden thanking a long list of the local Colorado Democrats for their support. Before the President got to have his say a young local entrepreneur with a company specialising in solar energy took the microphone to explain how the Bill's provisions will enable him to take on new staff and expand his business. It scored a political point but it also underlined just how thoroughly the ground has been prepared - before the signing ceremony the White House released new job targets for each of America's 435 Congressional districts - a bold, even politically risky, idea but one that shows that when the President talks about the transparency of his programme he really means it. The Republican party is taking an even greater risk with its total opposition to Obama's economic policies. On the one hand it says that the principle of the government fiscal stimulus is wrong and that the recovery should be left to business (the car industry?) while on the other it criticises the 787 billion dollar provision for being too small. The Republicans can't have it both ways.