Douglas Besharov, author of a big study on welfare reform, said the stimulus bill passed by Congress and the Senate in separate votes on Friday would "unravel" most of the 1996 reforms that led to a 65% reduction in welfare caseloads and prompted the British and several other governments to consider similar measures.

The other Mick (Mickey Kaus) connects the dots.

the now-undermined welfare reform was the key to rebuilding confidence in (liberal) affirmative government. As Bill Clinton recognized, voters may well have been willing to let government spend, but they didn't trust old style liberals not to spend in actively destructive ways, like subsidizing an isolated underclass of non-working single mothers with a no-strings cash dole. It's a 75-25 values issue. Work yes. Welfare no. Even if welfare spending was only a tiny portion of the liberals' spending agenda, it poisoned the rest of it. Only when Clinton's New Democrats put an ostentatious "time limit" on welfare and required work did they regain the public confidence necessary to increase other kinds of spending.

A reemerging "welfare" issue is a potential killer, in other words, for Obama's big remaining plans, especially health care. If Dems seem determined to reinstate dependency--or at the least blind to the dangers of dependency--voters aren't going to trust them to spend trillions on universal health insurance and fortified pensions. It's hard to believe Obama doesn't realize this.

He may realize it alright, but there is nothing he can do about it. By letting Pelosi etal write the stimulus bill, he screwed his presidency big-time. Every lesson liberals learned during the Clinton administration--the guns, welfare, taxes and spending, have been throw aside like a heroin addict falling off the wagon.

I almost feel sorry for the Clintons--they were that close to getting it all back. I haven't been this happy since Bush beat Kerry...

UPDATE: Lessons from the Stimulus bill. First, don't call it stimulus...

Its interesting to note that while the lessons are well-conceived, they can't in fact be learned because they are inherent to the nature of the Democrat caucus.