Robert Maguire's Library tagged stimulus →  View Popular

Brace Bartlett highlights this CBO report (pdf) on the stimulus. The bottom line:

CBO estimates that in the third
quarter of calendar year 2009, an additional 600,000 to
1.6 million people were employed in the United States,
and real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product
(GDP) was 1.2 percent to 3.2 percent higher, than would
have been the case in the absence of ARRA [American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act]...Those ranges are intended to reflect the uncertainty of
such estimates and to encompass most economists’ views
on the effects of fiscal stimulus.

The GOP is a party that has become increasingly conservative,
particularly on fiscal issues. Obama's stimulus package of nearly $800
billion, bailouts for banks and the auto industry, and a health-care
bill with a price tag of nearly $900 billion over 10 years have aroused
strong opposition on the right.

Almost three-quarters of Republicans and GOP-leaners identify
themselves as "conservative" on most issues, up sharply from a couple
of years ago... On fiscal issues, the percentage calling themselves conservative has
soared to more than eight in 10. More striking is that a majority
considers themselves to be "very conservative" on fiscal issues, up
about 20 points in two years.

The better news is that Republican voters understand that the GOP is also responsible for the fiscal mess:

Just 1 percent pick George W. Bush as the best reflection of the
party's principles, and only a single person in the poll cites former
vice president Richard B. Cheney. About seven in 10 say Bush bears at
least "some" of the blame for the party's problems.

The recession made deficit cutting in the here and now imprudent in his first year; but now addressing the long-term debt is itself necessary for stabilizing the economy - and reassuring independent voters that he, unlike his predecessor, gives a damn about fiscal health. Well: the good news is that he's going to do exactly that:

President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year's State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 – and will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs, according to top aides involved in the planning.