ECONOMISTS WEIGH IN: Can the economy be saved?

I just want to remind people of what Robert Samuelson said about the stimulus way back when it was passed:

Judged by his own standards, President Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus program is deeply disappointing. For weeks, Obama has described the economy in grim terms. “This is not your ordinary run-of-the-mill recession,” he said at his Feb. 9 news conference. It’s “the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.” Given these dire warnings, you’d expect the stimulus package to focus almost exclusively on reviving the economy. It doesn’t, and for that, Obama bears much of the blame. . . . His politics compromise the program’s economics.

Yes, they did. And he knew it, and didn’t care.

UPDATE: More on how the stimulus was targeted.