Clinton Spells Out Her Economic Stimulus Plan

January 24, 2008
Clinton Spells Out Her Economic Stimulus Plan
By PATRICK HEALY

GREENVILLE, S.C. ?- After a two-day absence, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton returned to South Carolina on Thursday and outlined her economic stimulus plan in a speech here ?- tackling both a huge concern of many Americans and playing the optimistic good cop to her husband's bad-cop routine against Senator Barack Obama.

Former President Bill Clinton has been sparring all week with Mr. Obama, who is Mrs. Clinton's leading rival in the state's primary this Saturday. While the two men have come across as tense and testy at times, Mrs. Clinton swept into the state as a fresh and smiling face, and directed most of her ammunition at an undisputed Democratic target: President Bush.

"On Monday night, President Bush will give final State of the Union address," Mrs. Clinton said at the start of her speech at Furman University ?- a remark that drew applause. She chuckled at the response and said: "It is enough to want to make you burst out in song. Don't worry, I'll spare you," in a reference to her lack of talent for singing.

Mrs. Clinton went on to lambaste Mr. Bush for virtually driving the economy into a recession and standing by as home foreclosures and the sub-prime mortgage crisis have accelerated.

"He has stayed at a comfortable cruising altitude, well above the realities of people's lives, delegating responsibility to his advisers, hoping the buck would stop somewhere else, anywhere else," Mrs. Clinton said.

"This administration has delivered a foreclosure notice on the American dream," she added.

Mrs. Clinton is proposing a $110 billion package, including $40 billion in tax rebates for "working and middle class families," according to a campaign white paper, and $30 billion to states and cities to help prevent foreclosures. She is also calling for a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures and a 5-year freeze on interest rates on sub-prime mortgages.

None of the stimulus ideas that Mrs. Clinton laid out were new; she has been talking about them for more than a week. But her speech was a chance to spread the word around South Carolina on the cusp of the presidential primary here on Saturday, and at a time when the unemployment is rising sharply in the state and home foreclosures continue to spread.

Before Mrs. Clinton spoke, the Obama campaign released a statement from Mr. Obama about her speech and his own economic stimulus plan.

"Experts agree that what struggling families need right now is immediate tax relief to stimulate our economy, which is why my plan has always called for a $500 tax cut for working families and a $250 supplement to their Social Security check," he said. "The fact is, when Senator Clinton released her economic stimulus plan, she didn't believe that workers or seniors needed immediate relief. Five days later, the economy didn't really change, but the politics apparently did, because she changed her plan to look just like mine.

"In this time of economic uncertainty and anxiety, we can't afford a president whose positions change with the politics of the moment ?- we need a president who knows that being ready on day one means getting it right from day one."

Former Senator John Edwards, who is also seeking the Democratic nomination, released a statement while campaigning in South Carolina, objecting to the economic stimulus package agreed to by Congress and urging it to "stand its ground."

"This is another example of Washington deserting working people and the middle class," Mr. Edwards's statement said. "They gave $70 billion of tax breaks that do nothing for those who've lost their jobs. It's a complete disconnect between what's happening in Washington and what I see happening here in South Carolina and across the country."

Mr. Edwards called for a modernization of the unemployment insurance law to cover more poor families and has proposed the development of a "clean energy economy" to create jobs and fight global warming.

A team of advisers, including former Clinton administration hands Gene Sperling, Roger Altman, and Robert Rubin, have helped shape Mrs. Clinton's policy ideas and tried to focus Democratic attention on the foreclosure and mortgage problems in particular.

Alex Conant, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said in response to the speech that Mrs. Clinton was proposing a "tax-it, spend-it, and regulate-it" agenda.

"Clinton tells us she's a great economic prognosticator, but then in the next breath admits she was wrong to initially oppose tax rebates," Mr. Conant said. "This speech is typical Clinton spin: blame Republicans, distort facts, and say government is the answer."

Mrs. Clinton did take a few jabs at Mr. Obama, though they were not by name and they were so subtle that only diehard observers of the campaign would probably pick up on the references.

Specifically, she picked up a theme she used against Mr. Obama before her victory in the Nevada caucuses. At the time, he had said that he believes the president should unite and inspire people and set big goals, and he also said he would want to have "people in place who can make sure that systems run." Mrs. Clinton used that as a jumping off point to tweak him as a talker and not a doer, and as a "hands off" manager who did not appreciate that the president is in charge of the government and accountable for results.

"We need a president who will run the government and manage the economy," Mrs. Clinton said at Furman late this morning. "The American people don't hire a president to talk about our problems, but to solve them."

NYTimes