And 5 years later we now know that it worked!

According to figures released by the non partisan CBO it worked. What worked you ask?
  The Stimulus. Faced with depression level rates of economic contraction the Obama administration proposed and won passage of the $800 billion stimulus, which by the way was by the way far less then the stimulus proposed by Republican primary contender Mitt Romney. Chided at the time as a boondoggle by the right and not enough by the left it seems that the stimulus was just right. Where's the jobs? Well it did produce a level of the shovel ready jobs that Obama's administration forsaw as 42, 000 miles of American highways were upgraded and/or built. 110,000 miles of new broadband infrastructure was built.  GDP was increased 2-2.5 % from negative growth to a small but positive growth rate of about 1%. This GDP growth boom lasting well into 2011. Temporary tax cuts were provided to 160 million American workers, and the use of online medical recording doubled in private office practices and quintrupled at hospitals.  It also jumpstarted the development of  a fully electric car , solar power and the use of energy saving LED lighting. So was it the silver bullet that returned us to prosperity? No. But it did save America the pain of a double dip recession or even worse a depression. On the flip side Europe chose the opposite direction, austerity, and today it remains mired in all the problems that were created by the recession and an unemployment rate that remains double that of the U.S. The biggest hindrance to growth in the U.S. lately according to the CBO, the sequester.