By CLIFFORD WINSTON

President-elect Barack Obama says he will create or protect some three million jobs by spending a massive amount of federal dollars to build roads and other "shovel ready" government projects across the country. The projects in this economic stimulus package, he says, will "not be based on politics and lobbying."

Nice thought. But already Mr. Obama is facing pressure by public officials from coast to coast to run in the other direction. In recent weeks, for example, the U.S. Conference of Mayors forwarded to Congress a list of 11,391 infrastructure projects that, we are to believe, are "ready to go." Several media outlets quickly pointed out that this list is full of pork -- the most flagrant examples are a polar-bear exhibit, an antiprostitution program, and a water-park ride. The nation's governors, transit officials, and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials have sent along their own lists, which are likely to contain their own "bridges to nowhere."

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Posted by boyang at December 28, 2008 5:37 PM