No Christmas tree

While Nevada transportation planners rub their hands at the thought of the new "stimulus" package (see above), details remain murky.

On Tuesday, Vice President-elect Joe Biden admitted that the incoming administration has yet to come up with even a broad outline for the proposal. "We're not prepared to tell you at this moment that that's been done," he said.

But what Mr. Biden was prepared to say is that the new package won't include any earmarks, at all.

That's good news, considering that as U.S. senators, Mr. Biden and Barack Obama were never known as paragons of fiscal restraint. Oh no. In fact, they were far more likely to be found ridiculing their Senate colleagues who consistently railed against pork spending.

But this week, Mr. Biden told members of the Obama economic team that he and his boss now embrace a different perspective.

"It's important for the American taxpayer to know that this is not going to be politics as usual and we will not tolerate business as usual in Washington," Mr. Biden said. "I know it's Christmas, and I know it's the Christmas season, but President-elect Obama and I are absolutely, absolutely determined that this economic recovery plan will not become a Christmas tree."

Of course, Congress may have something to say about that. And it will remain difficult for Mr. Obama to shed the "big-spender" label after offering a proposal to jack up federal outlays -- on health care, education, transportation and everything else -- by as much as $850 billion under the guise of jump-starting the moribund economy.

But if Mr. Obama can indeed use his immense clout to keep his Democratic soulmates in Congress from larding up any new stimulus measure, he will have accomplished something that too often eluded his recent predecessors.

We shall see.