Stimulus != War in Iraq

Today, in an article discussing Pres. Obama's legislative success yet "unpopularity," Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times compares the passage of the stimulus package, comprehensive healthcare reform, and financial regulation to Pres. Bush's taking the United States into an unnecessary war. No, really:

It is an argument that sounds eerily similar to the one Mr. Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, made to justify an unpopular war in Iraq as he watched his own poll numbers sink lower.

Just because two presidents claim that their unpopular actions are in the best interest of the country does not make the actions themselves equivalent. The war in Iraq was predicated on nonsense. The stimulus package, financial reform, and comprehensive healthcare reform--what ever you think of the policy choices themselves--were reactions to actual problems, actually doing harm to the United States.