The White House wants you to believe that the American Jobs Act is loaded up with bipartisan solutions once preferred by Republicans. And to some extent, that’s true. But there are a number of Easter eggs in here, policy ideas that originated with liberal policy groups. The White House may be touting the bipartisan bona fides on the top line. They may have frozen out the liberal policy shops for years. But when the time comes to save their bacon with jobs programs, they come back to the liberal wonks.

The President could of course say that he wouldn’t sign such a package. And he plans, according to these reports, not to negotiate with Republicans but to make the case to the public that they’re blocking progress. Given that the only things that have passed in this Presidency have been the result of intense negotiation, that means these are more political ploys than actual proposals. And again, it would have been nice to see public works ideas when they had a chance to pass.