The best thing President Barack Obama can do for the economy is keep quiet. A day after delivering an address that won widespread praise from the chattering class, Obama’s big-government policies were rejected by traders on Wall Street.

Wall Street’s negative reaction to Obama is nothing new. Ever since Election Day, Obama’s words have failed to inspire investors. “When the President speaks, the market listens … and crumbles,” said Family Research Council chief Tony Perkins, who outlined the following pattern of the Dow’s drop after notable Obama addresses:

• Nov. 5, 2008 (Wednesday after Election Day): -486 (5.0%)
• Jan. 9, 2009 (one day after Obama speaks at George Mason University on “need” for $800 billion stimulus package): -143 (1.6%)
• Jan. 20, 2009 (Inauguration Day): -332 (4.0%)
• Feb. 10, 2009 (one day after Obama declares that without a stimulus, “an economy that is already in crisis will be faced with a catastrophe”): -382 (4.6%)
• Feb. 17, 2009 (market opens for the first time after Congress passes $787 billion stimulus on Feb. 13; Obama signs bill into law, declaring, “The stimulus lets Americans claim destiny.”): -298 (3.8%)
• Feb. 19, 2009 (one day after Obama announces potential mortgage relief plan): -90 (1.2%)
• Feb. 25, 2009 (one day after Obama’s first speech to the full Congress): -80 (1.1%)

For the last 35 years, educators and analysts at The Heritage Foundation have been intimately involved in the nation’s great public policy debates. In all that time, we have never encountered legislation with such far-reaching and revolutionary policy implications as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act currently before Congress. And never have we seen a bill more cloaked in secrecy or more withdrawn from open public exposure and honest debate.

In addition to being the single most expensive bill ever proposed, this measure calls for a massive expansion of the federal government’s reach into the day-to-day life of virtually every citizen, business and civic organization in the nation. That, in itself, should be the subject of an extensive public conversation and thoughtful debate. Instead, we have seen Congressional leaders schedule snap votes on a 1,434-page bill that no one — repeat, no one — has had a chance to read in its entirety, much less digest and deliberate.

This bill has been advertised as an economic stimulus bill — despite the fact that the Congressional Budget Office estimates it will actually weaken our nation’s long-term economic growth. While the stimulative utility of the bill is, at best, questionable, it would unquestionably rewrite the social contract between the American people and their government. For example:

• The bill reverses the bipartisan and highly successful welfare reforms of 1996 and drastically expands the welfare state. For instance, it will start rewarding states for adding people to their welfare rolls, rather than for helping them find gainful employment. And contrary to long-established practice, it will entitle able-bodied adults without children to receive cash assistance.
• It does extreme violence to the concept of federalism—bailing out states that have spent irresponsibly at the expense of taxpayers in states that have been fiscally prudent.
• It greatly shifts the responsibility and power over health care delivery and decision making from individuals to government. Among other things, it would create a new federal health board to decide which medical services are “effective” in America, paving the way for government effectively to overrule the clinical decisions of private physicians.
• It deliberately censors religious speech and worship on school campuses by prohibiting use of any “stimulus” funds for facilities that are used for sectarian instruction, religious worship, or a school of divinity.

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The Senate is poised to pass its version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act today, setting the stage for a conference to reconcile its differences with the House. Throughout the debate over the economic stimulus bill, there has been plenty of talk about transparency but little done to achieve it. There is, however, another opportunity.

The Sunlight Foundation is spearheading an effort to convince Congress it should put the legislation online for public review at least 72 hours before its final consideration. Sunlight also wants President Barack Obama to keep his campaign promise of posting the bill five days before he signs it into law.

It is unclear when Obama will begin fulfilling his pledge for the five-day public comment period. Two pieces of legislation — the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and State Children’s Health Insurance Program — weren’t considered emergencies, yet Obama failed to wait the five days he promised. Spokesman Tommy Vietor gave this lame excuse: “We will be implementing this policy in full soon; currently we are working through implementation procedures and some initial issues with the congressional calendar.”

The only emergency facing the stimulus is the public’s growing dislike for it. Obama and his liberal cohorts know the longer it faces scrutiny, the more likely it is to sink under its own weight.

From the start of the stimulus debate, conservatives have challenged Obama to live up to his transparency talk. House Republican Whip Eric Cantor secured an early pledge from the president to track the stimulus spending in real time. Given the size and scope of the bill, Americans should demand time to scrutinize its contents — before Congress votes and before Obama signs it into law.

Few issues unite conservatives and liberals like government transparency. Obama’s failure to deliver will disappoint not just his harshest critics but also his staunchest allies. Send the White House an email reminding Obama of his promise.