The stimulus bill and political capital

John Dickerson from Slate has a great article talking about the crafting of the new stimulus bill and the pressures both publicly and politically that Obama faces on how the bill passes.
He raises some of the same points I had made in an earlier post, that Obama can't just be seen as jamming new spending bills through a majority congress much in the same way that LBJ or George Bush did, but that he is careful to include thoughtful discussion and opposition opinions.
He's treading dangerous political ground here, he could either spend vast amounts of political capital and be seen as bullying his agenda on congress, or he could gain even greater capital by treading cautiously and letting all sides put in their two cents.
The problem with option two is that consensus building takes time, and with the economy in the state that it is in, time, more than anything, is of the essence.