Obama revealed his economic stimulus package, and it looks pretty clear that he is staying true to his word: that he believes in an economy that works from the bottom up, that it grows not when you give massive tax breaks and giveaways to corporations and the wealthy (in the hope that they’ll decide to spend some of that on hiring people so the money will work its way back into the economy), but that it works best when you give the money instead directly to the lowest ranks of society–jobs for the lower & middle class instead of cash gifts to the rich, for example–knowing that they will spend the money in ways that will kick-start the economy. In other words, cut out the wasteful middleman who usually takes a huge slice of cream off the top.

Obama’s economic plan has at its heart a move to start rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure. To me, this is a no-brainer–as Roger K. Lewis as the WaPo points out, infrastructure is a “capital expense” because “money spent for labor and materials yields something durable, useful and often financially productive.” Bush just blew $700 billion on bailouts for irresponsible banks, much of which we might never see again. Obama might have gotten behind it because he knew that fighting for a more responsible package would have simply made things worse, not to mention helped lose him the election, but I have little doubt that his approach would have been far different had he been the author and the president who pushed it. (And he did push an alternate plan which would have given more money to people trying to keep their homes rather than the banks that were taking them away.)

This infrastructure push is one example of that mindset: spend money on things that will bring a return and boost the economy, rather than the right-wing method of throwing wads of cash at people already flush with it in the hope that enough will fall through the cracks and create some jobs somewhere. Obama’s plan has heft–invest in roads & bridges, railways, seaports, water, energy systems, and schools. The immediate effect is to create many new healthy construction jobs, pump money into the lower & middle class, pump up local economies where the projects take place, and then sit back and profit from the results for the next half century.

Believe it or not, Bush has been against such projects. And we wonder why our bridges are collapsing, why our construction jobs are disappearing, why local economies are drying up.

Another element of Obama’s plan is to give money to states to support their faltering social support systems–buying food for families that don’t have enough money, extending unemployment benefits for people who have lost their jobs for long periods of time–you know, frivolous stuff. Or what right-wingers call “welfare”–something they approve of if it’s a billionaire who just lost his yacht, but not if it’s a hardworking average Joe who’s trying to work but can’t find it, or a single mother working two jobs to raise her kids but still can’t make ends meet. These people aren’t investing in junk bonds or stashing their loot in the Caymans. They’re spending pretty much everything at home, money that goes right back into the economy. But conservatives see these people as greedy welfare queens who don’t deserve it. Give Paris Hilton a bigger inheritance instead–after all, she earned it more, didn’t she?

Obama is also looking to help out the auto industry, but also seems intent on using that influence to help steer them toward those green technologies he’s been talking about.

In short, Obama is not wasting any time in doing everything he can to deliver on his promises, and to create a stimulus package which has the best promise of having the strongest impact on the economy.

Even as he remains careful not to officially kick at the heels of the current administration, he has made it perfectly clear that he seriously intends to waste no time in getting to work–and already he sounds smarter, more determined, and more effective that the administration still in power.