Wouldn't obama trying to help te economy be socialist, Politico? What exactly can he do besides increase the size (and employment) of the government? Is that what you want, Mr. I hate socialism?
There are plenty of things he could have done. For example, being a leader who inspires confidence in Americans. That would have helped. I mean, was it too much to expect him to make speeches as our leader that were on par with his speeches as a campaigner? Surely this would have had some sort of positive effect on consumer/investor confidence, no? Instead, everybody in America feels like things are on the wrong track and everybody outside of America feels like America is going the way of the Soviet Union.
There are other things he could have done. For example, the stimulus package could have been solely tax credits and/or tax cuts. Or it could have been a greater combination of these mixed with government spending on infrastructure (e.g., rebuilding interstate highways, putting more funds into scientific/technological research, etc. -- I am NOT opposed to all government spending). Instead, the stimulus package was mostly just a transfer of funds from the federal level to the state level in order to keep certain public unions happy. Obviously the results show that this was not a successful approach. But you can continue to delude yourself into believing that "help is on the way" with Obama in 2012...
