President Barack Obama on Wednesday called the one-year-old economic stimulus package an accomplishment that avoided a depression and kept 2 million people in their jobs. But with millions of still out of work, he acknowledged that “it doesn't yet feel like much of a recovery.” Marking the anniversary of the $787 billion stimulus program, Obama's message was to people skeptical about the expensive measure and Republican lawmakers who voted against it. To the public, the U.S. president explained that the stimulus plan was composed of tax cuts for most Americans and help for state governments, extended social service benefits, and huge investments in infrastructure, energy, and education. “One year later, it is largely thanks to the recovery act that a second depression is no longer a possibility,” he said. To his Republican foes, who say the bill was an expensive debt-fueling mistake that has not created jobs, Obama urged them to speak with Americans have kept their jobs only because he and congressional Democrats acted on their behalf. Obama said the stimulus package is on target to create or save 1.5 million more jobs, bringing the estimated total to 3.5 million. However, the president reminded people that the goal of the measure was never to restore every lost job. The government can build confidence and rescue people in difficult times during a severe economic downturn, he said, but it always will be the private sector that generates jobs and economic recovery. Obama repeatedly noted how well the government has implemented the stimulus money. “There has never been a program of this scale, moved at this speed, that has been enacted as effectively and as transparently as the recovery act,” he said.
