奥巴马的新政策遭受质疑

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The President is back at work after his overseas trip and he has his work cut out for him. President Obama facing growing criticism now over the success of the economic stimulus plan, and over delays in passing his proposed healthcare reforms. Let's bring in ABC's senior White House correspondent Jake Tapper. Good morning, Jake.

Good morning, Kate.

So the President wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post yesterday, talking about the economic stimulus plan. And he said, "It was, from the start, a two-year program. We must let it work the way it's supposed to." Do you think he can make that argument this week and convince people to just wait a while?

Well, that's the argument, patience. And the President will go to Michigan later this week and he'll talk about the fact that the American people need to give the stimulus program time to work. You know, it's 787 billion dollars, of that about 100 billion has gone out the door in the form of infrastructure projects and tax cuts. Most of the money in the stimulus package will be spent in the next 12 months. So that's the argument the President's going to make. But they know they've got a problem here for two reasons. One, their essential economic argument that things would be a lot worse without the stimulus package, that's not compelling to a lot of people. And two, there's an expectation’s issue here. The President said the stimulus would save or create 4 million jobs. Well, as we know, unemployment is a lagging economic indicator. Jobs are the last thing that's going to improve in this economy. So the President will talk about the improvements in the housing market, the credit market and he will ask for patience.

Also on healthcare, the other major issue facing him. Yesterday on "This Week", the President had said he wanted a bill by August, but take a listen to what Republican Senator John Kyl had to say about that. (Yep.)

There's no chance that it is gonna to be done by August. President Obama was right about one thing, he said if it's not done quickly, it won't be done at all. Why did he say that? Because the longer it hangs out there, the more the American people are skeptical, anxious.

No chance by August, Jake. What does it mean?

Well, I think that there is a chance, although it's still gonna be very tough to do. But the President, his aides say, can see the finish line on this. He can see the administration revamping healthcare for the first time in modern history. And so he's going to pull out all the stops and ask for legislators on Capitol Hill to compromise, come around a set of common principles.