it s not going to make you more popular. you take all of the slings and arrows of not only people within your own party who are frustrated and don t think you re doing enough but also all the slings and arrows of the opposition party. so harry knew that his job was not about being popular. it was about getting things done, and he was singularly focused on that, and i think he will go down as someone who figured out how to make things happen. i mean, look at the list. not just obamacare, but all of the unpopularity surrounding t.a.r.p. and the stimulus acts, saving the automobile industry at a moment when bush was still president, and right in the middle of a presidential campaign shepherding through what was needed we had to do to save our economic system from pure disaster after the days of the financial collapse in the fall of 2008, that was harry
president george w. bush passed a stimulus act. what? republicans, a stimulus act? yes. george w. bush passed two stimulus acts. he did it in 2001 as well. reagan had a big act and so did george h.w. bush. that is the way you deal with recessions. it s normal no matter what you hear on fox news or the crazy part of your radio. the political geniuses of the george w. bush administration decided to get money out into the economy, to pursue stimulus and get money out that merns would spentds, they decided to distribute that money just by sending everybody a check. a check made out to you from the bush administration. here is some money. it s from the government. please go spend it. i m not kidding. this is what they did. these rebates will provide eligible americans with payments
does that counter this republican argument from mitt romney that barack obama is regulation happy? your direct experience at the gas pump is about to be that this president has gotten rid of regulations. it s a very subtle thing but subtle things like this can have a powerful impact when you re talking about something that sticks with people and affects millions and millions of people. the political impact or the way you personally interact with the government and the way you personally experience a policy change or the affect of something that a politician did, that can affect in a life-long way the way you think about that policy, the way you think about that politician. that individual affect part of politics is something that republicans have long appreciated. in 2008, before the big financial crash but when the economy was slowing down, president george w. bush passed a stimulus act. what? republicans, a stimulus act? yes. george w. bush passed two stimulus acts. he did it in 2001