Skip to main content
Thursday, October 29, 2026Oct 29

This story is free to read.

Cool reception for Obama’s second stimulus

The Obama administration says the American people enthusiastically support the president’s latest stimulus, which he labels a “jobs package.”

But public backing for the “jobs package” seems shaky at best.

The president recently gave a speech at a fire station in Virginia in support of the new stimulus. The response was less than enthusiastic when he mentioned his so-called American Jobs Act. Only one or two of the roughly 100 people present clapped. As the Los Angeles Times reported, “[A] subdued crowd needed a bit of prompting to applaud his proposal … .”

Literally.

Confronted with the crowd’s weak response to his plan to spend an additional $447 billion and to raise taxes, the president was reduced to encouraging people to clap.