As Americans continued to starve, face evictions, and die during this week’s congressional showdown over desperately needed stimulus legislation, former president Barack Obama weighed in by trying to erase a historical cautionary tale that already seems to be happening again.

Looking back at the economic crisis during his first term, Obama told New York Magazine that he “was full Keynesian at that time in terms of trying to get as much stimulus out the door as quickly as possible” and that his critics were wrong to assume that the Democratic Party — which had full control of Congress — backed a smaller-than-necessary stimulus bill “based on some concerns about deficits at a time when that should have been the last thing we were worrying about.”

“At the end of the day I had to get Ben Nelson’s vote, I had to get Arlen Specter’s vote, and I had to get Susan Collins’s vote — otherwise, I’m getting nothing,” Obama said, referring to conservative Democratic and Republican senators. “I’m making a decision to go ahead and take three-quarters of a loaf rather than have a lengthy fight for the whole loaf that even if I win could delay things significantly and hamper our ability to right the ship.”