One, who’s the “journalist” who asked about the Super Bowl in the middle of substantive questions and two, Obama votes “present” on who he’s rooting for in the big game:
Q And also, if you could tell us who he’s supporting in the Super Bowl.
MR. GIBBS: All right, let me hold on that one for a second. (Laughter.) Let me take your tougher question first.
I think — part of my answer bears on exactly part of your question, which is, you mentioned that even among economists, conservative ones, there’s a — there are varying opinions about the size of a stimulus package. There are inherently different opinions about what should be encompassed in those varying sizes of stimulus packages.
I know that, if you go back and read the op-ed, I know that, for instance, one of the things that Mr. Feldstein mentions is he disagrees with the notion that the President’s $500 tax cut will be paid out in a lump sum, and that’s just not true.
One of the reasons that we fashioned the tax cut in the way we did was precisely to take into account the notion — and we’ve seen this in the past couple of stimulus attempts by Congress and the President — that lump-sum payments that people tend to get, one-time checks tend to go into savings at a rate far greater than spending because people get this one-time check but understand that it’s not going to continue, which causes them to save the money, which is why the tax cuts in the President’s plan pay out a little bit at a time so that people that may get $20 or $25 more in each pay period will get used to spending that $20 to $25 each pay period. They’ll understand that if I get it today, because I got paid, that I’ll get it in two weeks because I get paid, and I can change my spending habits by that amount of money through the course of the tax cut.
I do think there are some just general disagreements — as you mentioned, disagreements even among conservative economists. There’s disagreements about what we believe creates jobs and what Mr. Feldstein might believe.
Q I guess the broader question is, you talk about him wanting to reach out to Republicans and change the tone. Has he — does he have any interest in bringing some of these folks into the White House and sitting down –
MR. GIBBS: I don’t know the precise answer to whether he’s interested in bringing some of those people down per se to talk. Obviously he’s — he reads the fine Washington Post and listens to their arguments. Again, you know, I think if you look at other — others — some that helped Senator McCain that have weighed in on what they think is a quality stimulus package. But again, he is always open to listening to ideas from across the political spectrum and different political parties.
Q And the Super Bowl question?
MR. GIBBS: Oh, the Super Bowl question. I have not asked him specifically who he is rooting for, but I will — which I will do. I know he has a tremendous respect and affection for the Rooney family, who we saw at many different points along the campaign trail. The best breakfast place we went to in the entire campaign was a place that we went with Mr. Rooney in Pittsburgh –
Q The Steelers –
MR. GIBBS: Exactly. And so I — without prejudging who he roots for, I know he has tremendous affection for the Rooney family.





Comments