Although he said pledged not to, Barack Obama may be retracting his former statements to not to let earmarks intrude on his massive stimulus package. Below is a quote from an entry on the Reason Blog explaining Obama’s new plan, but the full article can be read here.
“We are going to ban all earmarks—the process by which individual members insert pet projects without review," he explained. "We will create an economic recovery oversight board made up of key administration officials and independent advisors to identify problems early and make sure we are doing all we can to solve it."
Well, forget about it. In these tough times, the last thing you want to do is insist on principles. (And let's leave aside for the moment the question of whether the stimulus package is itself simply a way of pushing massive earmarked spending).
