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I can't prove it, but my contention is that any president, of any party, would have approved the bank and housing-agency bailouts and other stimulus measures that Bush approved, and even Obama's $800 billion stimulus plan, which passed in 2009. It's easy to forget, but the economy was on the verge of free-falling into a depression back then, and there was intense pressure on the government to prevent that. Politicians get elected to do what the voters want, and voters wanted somebody to stop the bleeding and save the economy.

This is ridiculous. First of all, that's a half truth on Bush "approving" those bailouts - Obama also holds culpability with his "Aye" vote in the Senate which helped get it to Bush's desk for signature. And there is more to the stimulus than just the dollar figure - much of that spending was on complete junk - not even what could be called pork. The infrastructure improvements may have had some nominal effect on the economy, but if that was all that was done, the price tage would have been what, $50 billion? The rest was a complete waste - studying ants in Africa, sending jobs to China, Solyndra, etc. The debt it added and the compounding interest has been a net negative for the economy overall not only in the present but will be a continuing drag on the economy for many years to come, as the CBO head has admitted.