Today's news political news media cycle was dominated today by the debate over earmarks (see criticisms here, here, and here, and here's an op-ed by Steny Hoyer defending earmarks).
Obama signed what he described as an "imperfect" stimulus bill today, and vowed to take a tougher stance on pork projects. Some might remember that during the campaign, Obama actually defended earmarks while his opponent John McCain was railing against them.
In fact, earmarks do make up only a small portion of government spending. However, the more frivolous pet projects (pork, thy name is Woodstock Museum) that do get highlighted in the news seem to embody the notion that the government is out to waste tax dollars, which is always popular as a news story. I say this hoop-la over earmarks in the spending bill will end with the next news cycle and that despite Obama's promise today, that congress will continue operating as it always has.
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