Sunlight Labs on the good things about Recovery.gov:

See– we want to see both the information government has chosen to deliver and the recipe for it, alongside its ingredients. Imagine, for instance, if Recovery.gov launched, and the Obama Administration just outright claimed success, and cited through press release, millions of jobs and economic recovery. That, after all, is the alternative. Instead, Recovery.gov’s done exactly what it’s supposed to do– make it so that people can look at the data and make up their own minds as to what is really happening.

And yeah, the data’s bad. But that’s the way its supposed to be. Real-time, online, machine readable. In a politically charged debate over a controversial program, its easy to take pot-shots at the messenger (Recovery.gov), but what Recovery.gov is doing is shining some sunlight in some really interesting places, letting your average citizen see why data quality and real-time reporting really matter.