He held regular press conferences, called back
reporters at all hours of the night, and spoke in commanding detail about specific schools and neighborhoods.
As the House was passing its version
of the stimulus package (see Figure 1), Frederick Hess
of the American Enterprise Institute noted that most
of the money simply gave states dollars to keep intact the programs
of the past: «It's like an alcoholic
at the end
of the
night when the bars close and the solution is to open the bar for another
hour,» he told a New York Times
reporter.