Stimulus Goes to the Dogs

President Obama in a speech to the National Conference of State Legislatures on March 2009:

Now, no plan is perfect. And I can't stand here and promise you that not one single dollar will slip through the cracks. But what I can promise you is that we will do everything in our power to prevent that from happening, which is why we're building on the provisions in the Recovery Act to forbid the use of these funds to build things like dog parks.

Now, let me be clear. I don't have anything against dog parks. [Laughter] I intend to get a dog. [Laughter] What I do oppose is building them with funds from the Recovery Act, because that's not how we'll jumpstart job creation, and that's not how we'll put our economy on a firmer footing for the future.

Half a block from my house, November 2009:

Yep. That's a state-of-the-art dog park, paid for with stimulus money.

Like the man said: No plan is perfect.