President Obama’s growing wary of all the bickering over the controversial economic stimulus package.

"What has happened, and this is what tends to happen in this town, is people have plucked out this program or that program that doesn’t look particularly stimulating, the contraceptives issue being a primary example. If you add all that stuff up, it accounts for less than one percent of the overall package," the president told the CBS Evening News during his big media push for the stimulus bill this week. But there are several indications that Mr. Obama’s prepared to make some concessions.

"We’re focused on the pie, not the crumbs," National Economic Council Director Larry Summer told USA Today. "The president’s prepared to compromise … but our focus is on the fact that the American economy badly needs help." The Senate on Tuesday added $11 billion more so Americans can claim a tax deduction on some new car sales, and even more money for medical research. 

Senate Republicans have blasted parts of the bill they don’t think create jobs and are trying to cut $200 billion from it, and some Democrats may side with them. In fact, Politico points out that Rep. Jim Cooper, D-TN, one of the moderate Blue Dogs, suggested the White House encouraged him to defy House leadership and vote against the stimulus with ten other House Democrats.

"I actually got some quiet encouragement from the Obama folks for what I’m doing," said Cooper, one of about 55 House Democrats to sign a letter criticizing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, on the way she has handled the $819 billion House package. "They know it’s a messy bill and they wanted a clean bill. Now, I got in terrible trouble with our leadership because they don’t care what’s in the bill, they just want it pass and they want it to be unanimous."

Senate Democratic leaders admit they don’t have the votes to pass the current bill and they know that in order to gain bipartisan support, they will have to cut whatever doesn’t provide an immediate boost to the economy. Well that’s an idea! 

And there are still many non-job-creating, non-economic-stimulating programs in the bill that could be cut. The Washington Times notes that even though the Senate removed $475 million designated to fight smoking and sexually transmitted diseases, the money is still there, meaning it could still technically be used to help smokers kick the habit and prevent the spread of STD. Is this stimulating the economy?

It’s clear many in America aren’t even sure if the stimulus as is will help enough. The Arizona Republic wrote an editorial saying Congress should just start over, but a new poll says while a strong majority of Americans (75 percent) want Congress to pass some version of Obama’s stimulus plan, people are split down the middle on whether it should be passed as is or with major changes. Most are skeptical the plan can work fast enough, with only 17 percent saying the plan would improve the economy.

What do you think?