Zogby Says Obama Stimulus Strategy Was Wrong

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

National pollster John Zogby, who is out with a new poll, says President Obama should have written his own stimulus bill, with GOP input, in order to win a package that the public would fully endorse. "Clearly the president made a mistake," he said in a telephone interview. "He should have come in with his own legislation." As a result, he said, the public saw partisanship rule in Washington over the stimulus debate and they are now as divided on the overall package. "The public is not in love with the stimulus," says Zogby, who added that Congress continues to suffer from a bad public perception despite a small bump in their approval rating. "The public has made it clear that they wanted to do something without the bickering but what they got was hyperpartisanship. And now they are hyper-partisan in how they look at it and talk about it." His comments come as Republican leadership aides tell Whispers that they still believe that Obama is serious in forging bipartisan relations. Their advice on the next piece of major legislation: Instead of letting Democrats write the bill, form a bipartisan panel where both sides can cut a deal that the president can agree to.

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