This entire stimulus package was a joke. It's not so much that Obama had an agenda; he just didn't understand the complexity of it all, and he thought doing something was better than doing nothing. The real problem is that Obama is in over his head. Actually, I think McCain would have had the same problems. The only one that had a clue was Romney, but he's a Morman. Can't have no Morman's running this country, lol.
There was a very simple solution that would have cost much less than the so called stimulus they put forth. All they had to do was create a tax credit similar to the housing credit, except make it for the purchase of a new car. A $5000 to $7500 credit toward the purchase of a new car would have saved both Chrysler and GM, and it would have helped the other car companies too. Less jobs would have been lost, more money would be moving through the system, more taxes would be collected, and overall, the economy wouldn't be in as bad of shape. That is not to say everything would have been great or that the recession could have been avoided, but its impact certainly could have been lessened.
But then again, maybe I'm just full of it. I'm not a financial guru like those people in Washington, so maybe my idea is just a bunch of hot air.