Politics with Marc Ambinder

Recently in How's It Playing? Category

Feb 24 2009, 3:30PM

How's It Playing?

by Will DiNovi

Editorial boards across the "purple states" are looking ahead to President Obama's budget address, and continuing to assess the local implications of the passage of the stimulus package:

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Feb 20 2009, 2:30PM

How's It Playing?

by Marc Ambinder

As the President's $275 billion foreclosure plan makes its way towards Congress, it's worth taking a closer look at how the proposal is being received in newspapers across the country. Many editorial boards have demonstrated an impressive level of support for the general contours of the plan, yet a range of opinion has emerged on many of its specific provisions.  These areas of disagreement may foreshadow the political fault lines that will emerge when the legislation appears before Congress.  

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Feb 19 2009, 4:00PM

How's It Playing? One Down, A Zillion To Go

by Marc Ambinder

President Obama's signing of the $787 billion stimulus bill on Tuesday brought a small measure of closure to one of the early challenge of his presidency, but today's headlines remind us that the new administration still has many other fires to fight. Homeowners teetering on the edge of foreclosure need help, the nation's major banks and two of the Big Three automakers are slouching toward bankruptcy, and the country is grappling with the political and economic implications of the current troop escalation in Afghanistan. Today's editorials in newspapers across the "purple states" reflected the staggering range of public policy challenges before the president.

 

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Feb 18 2009, 2:03PM

How's It Playing?

by Marc Ambinder

Following the President's signing of the $787 billion stimulus package in Denver yesterday, editorial boards across the nation's "purple states" assessed the bill's long-term implications for their state economies.

The Rocky Mountain News takes stock of what it believes is good and bad in the bill. Though arguing the stimulus is necessary and praising its investments in infrastructure, the editors question the President's enthusiasm for large increases in federal spending on health care and education. They are eager to know how Obama will reconcile this non-infrastructure spending with another goal he stated in Denver - restoring fiscal discipline.

The Cincinnati Enquirer argues that the most important feature of the stimulus bill is that the country will perceive it as aggressive action against the country's economic woes. While the editors suggest that we may need further tax cuts down the line, as well as additional targeted spending programs, they praise the President for passing the bill so swiftly after taking office. They believe the stimulus package represents an appropriately aggressive start to the long-term process of revitalizing the American economy

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Feb 6 2009, 1:36PM

Interpreting The Beltway

by Will DiNovi

Editorial boards across the country are grappling with how the stimulus package will affect state programs and budget shortfalls, as well as the electoral fortunes of their local politicians.

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