EDITORIAL:

It’s always refreshing to see people exercise their right to demonstrate peacefully.

So a thumbs up to the effort put forth by Moveon.org recently. The group fanned out across the country urging members of Congress to support President-elect Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan.

Locally, about 20 of them showed up at Rep. John Campbell’s district office in Newport Center, only to be greeted with bottled water and doughnuts.

“He is for it. He supports it,” said Lou Penrose, district director for Campbell.

So A for effort.

But a C- for timing.

You see, it’s a bit early in the game to ask a sitting congressman to support a plan put forth by a politician who hasn’t even taken office yet and that hasn’t been vetted. At this point, in fact, it’s more of an idea than a piece of legislation.

Besides, Campbell, at the time of the demonstration, had been chosen to help lead a hearing on Capitol Hill that day to develop ideas to help stimulate the national economy. The hearing was in response to Obama’s request for Republican input on the issue.

“Ideology has to be checked at the door,” Penrose told the group. “We’ve got to do what we can to get the economy rolling again — or we’re looking at a 15% unemployment rate.”

Obama has proposed an $850-billion stimulus plan to bolster an ailing economy.

And he’s sought input from Democrats and Republicans alike in developing his plan.

We urge activists to be patient; before OKing a plan of that magnitude, there needs to be discussion and debate.

Campbell and other Republicans’ input may very well reshape the plan, or at least fine-tune it.

That’s what Obama is hoping for, and that’s what we’re hoping for, for the betterment of our country.

On the other hand, Moveon.org is right to demand action from our elected officials.

“Did they buy us off with doughnuts and bottled water? I don’t know,” said Orange resident Richard Snyder, who brought a cardboard sign reading “Got stimulus plan?” to the rally.

“We just want to see some sort of accountability.”