Political Clout and the Stimulus

An escalating chorus of Republican pundits and lawmakers have claimed that the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (aka the economic stimulus) has lost support with the public. This is untrue and the reality is far more nuanced.

The conventional argument goes as follows: a wave of goodwill accompanied Obama into office during his transition period. As such, people were willing to go along with whatever he put forward, 1) because of the dire economic straits in which the country currently finds itself and 2) because Obama's signature was on it. As details of the plan came to light, however, the American public--an unshakably center-right bunch--have soured on the legislation, viewing it as a pork-filled big government goodie list.

Some polling on the subject support this (though Gallup has shown support for the stimulus remaining stagnant over the past week or so--when the concrete proposal was finally unveiled and Republicans really started lobbying harsh attacks against it). But all of this ignores the underlying reality of the political moment in which we find ourselves:

The only power non-moderate Republicans have in this situation is to make the stimulus as it exists less popular among the general public. Given their current standing in the American public's eyes and the hemorrhaging economy, they cannot afford to appear obstructionist; it would be political suicide. In other words, many Republicans will vote against the bill, but will only do so knowing that it will pass and thus simply making a principled stand in defeat.

Which isn't to say that there isn't some value in souring the public on the stimulus. The problem they will face is what happens if and when the stimulus works?