Lesson in political correctness from the Obama administration:
No longer call the $819 billion spending bill in the Congress the “economic stimulus” package.
Henceforth, it shall be known as the “economic recovery” bill.
That’s the command from the White House to all federal agencies.
The Federal Highway Administration notified state transportation departments of the change in terminology this week.
Apparently, the word stimulus may give too much of an impression that the bill spends a gigantic load of tax dollars.
The word “recovery,” however, has a lot more hope in it. And “hope,” if you’ll remember from the campaign, was a major theme of the new president.
“Obama’s a great politician and this is one of the first indications we have that his politics doesn’t stop at the campaign trail but continues with him in the White House,” said Christian Morgan, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party.
Morgan also said the word change emphasizes a major concern of Republicans who have criticized the new administration for believing that only the government can heal the nation’s economic difficulty.
But Doug Hecox, a spokesman for the highway administration, said there is a practical reason for the change.
He said the FHWA has set up a web site to help states who want to apply for the new federal funding. The URL is www.fhwa.dot.gov/economicrecovery.
“It’s really interesting to the transportation people but probably not to the average Joe,” Hecox said.
Calling the bill “economic recovery,” he said, will help them navigate to the web site with the same name.
