Do not misuse it. Do not spin it. Do not give off even the faintest whiff of appearing to use this economic crisis to gain votes for some other end, any other end, no matter how worthy that end seems to you and to your advisers.

The House Democrats' stimulus package is a disaster because it is a lie. How can a bill that spends most of the money in 2010 and many years beyond be a stimulus package for an economy collapsing now? The Senate version is only marginally better -- it promises to spend about three-fourths of the money it borrows from the American people by October 2010. But this is still an unacceptable gap between the alleged purpose and the reality.

Hidden in both bills are very large paybacks to political interest groups -- another clear disaster.

"I see multiple motivations in this bill, based on the language," Brett Glass, founder of Lariat.net, an Internet service provider in Wyoming, told The New York Times. "I do see a motivation to stimulate the economy. I think that's a good thing. I also see a motivation to hand out money to certain large corporations that are very good at lobbying." And Glass is speaking only of the $9 billion to expand rural Internet access -- sometime around 2013.

If this is a stimulus package, be rigorous. Keep in the stimulus bill all the spending on construction and other reasonable projects that can be spent by the government in 2009. Take the remaining money and give a check to every man, woman and child in the form of a debit card that can be spent anywhere a consumer chooses between now and Dec. 31, 2009.

Make your actions match your words, President Obama, so we can trust you.

Waste this crisis, Mr. President. Please.