I'm trying to figure out if this stimulus package was/is a poor job -- or the Republicans are having their usual success with their "outrage" about something that is actually quite good, or if there is a crafty scenario being played out, or something else I haven't thought of.   So a couple of questions, if anyone knows:

--- Where is the actual bill online?  I heard it was available online and possibly it's easy to find but I'm just not thinking of the right places to look (as well as being very rushed for time)

---  Who 'created' the bill?  Did it come out of the White House? the House of Representatives (since that's where it was voted on first)? somewhere else?   Basically, I'm trying to figure out if this is an Obama-crafted package (in which case I'd expect it to be lean and very targeted and to be being 'sold' more effectively) or something someone in Congress put together ostensibly to meet Obama's aims but - well, you know......

As best I can tell, the Republicans are definitely winning the spin war at the moment.  Of course they are very experienced in crying "shock and horror" and clutching their chest over anything the Dems do, whether it's good or bad.  But, damn it,  that works with a lot of people.  During the campaign, Obama said that the Republicans don't govern well but they sure know how to campaign.  I'd add that they may not legislate well, but they sure know how to attack and tarnish proposed legislation. 

The various scenarios I see as possible explanation for what is going on right now are all over the board: 
------------- Obama's just not as good at putting together legislation and tackling governing problems as he was at putting together a campaign and tackling those problems,
-------------- The real fight is between the administration -- which wants a lean/mean/targeted package -- and the Dems in Congress who want ... well, the things they've wanted for a long time and haven't had a chance to get,
------------  The bill is actually very good but the Reps are just doing their usual disgustingly successful job of shrieking like banshees ... convincingly, or
-------------- The bill is poor enough to get the Reps shrieking and sounding certain and it's all part of a crafty plan to let it go into conference and emerge as something they'll look foolish for having opposed so stridently  (and they wind up buying into programs that they would have screamed at before).   

(I'd love it  to be the last scenario and, with Obama, would never rule that possibility out.  I do notice that people who were clutch-my-chest aghast at some of his proposals earlier own are now embracing those things -- like work on infrastructure, power grid, etc.  -- as it they are the best and most logical things in the world). 

Anyway, something just isn't sitting right.  The one thing we know Obama can do well is be a salesman .... and right now this package isn't being sold very well.   And it's being attacked pretty successfully, at least judging by the John Q. Public's I talk to.

All of this leads to my having a lot of questions, but being at such a 'kindergarten' level about anything financial and about heavy-duty insider politics, most of the commentary I've been trying to read already starts way beyond where I am.  So any help, guidance, explanations at the early primer level, or theories more interesting than mine would be most welcome.