Perhaps they needed some boots along with those shovels?

When President Barack Obama writes for the Washington Post that the massive spending package, labelled a stimulus, that passed in the opening weeks of his administration was "from the start, a two-year program," he is counting on the collective amnesia of the American people. In fact, a friend in Washington tells me that Democrats have been urged to avoid using the phrase used repeatedly in the lead up to passage of the legislation: "shovel ready." Americans may recall that they were assured that quick passage of the unread bill was necessary so that "shovel ready" projects could revive the economy. Conservatives and Republicans that pointed out that much of the spending was delayed and aimed at Democratic constituencies without regard to stimulative effect were dismissed as naysaying gadflies.

The administration clearly overpromised on what they could deliver. Whether the latest spin succeeds in distracting the electorate from that fact remains to be seen.