So John Boehner thinks the announced resignation of Christina Romer, in combination with the latest jobs report, is evidence the Obama administration needs to seriously retool its economic policy:
"After another disappointing jobs report and the resignation of one of the chief architects of the trillion-dollar ‘stimulus,' it's time for President Obama to listen to the American people and face up to the fact that his ‘stimulus' policies aren't working."
Set aside for a moment the fact that Boehner's logic leans heavily on how you define "working." (The stimulus may not have initiated a jobs recovery, but there's every reason to think it has prevented a far worse plunge.) David Dayen has a post up suggesting what lots of people already suspected -- that Romer's resignation was driven largely by frustration over her lack of voice in Obama's economic team, and her inability to get input past the firewall of Larry Summers and Tim Geithner. And a big theme of that frustration was the stimulus bill:
On macroeconomic issues, the policies of this White House have clearly been driven by the axis of Summers and Geithner. Romer's initial forecast for the stimulus, showing the need for a $1.2 trillion dollar jolt to the economy, was internally overruled.
Of course, that Romer thought the stimulus wasn't big enough isn't what Boehner's hinting at, and isn't what he wants the American people to think. Boehner's reaction to the House's initial $819 billion package and his broader theory of jobs stimulus show his preferred level of government spending in this area is zero. Which means Boehner isn't engaging in a meaningful critique here, just raw political opportunism. Which, admittedly, isn't the most surprising thing coming from him.
-- Jeff Spross
