Reply #27: IMO getting tough with the Rs should come later. Now's the time to convert [View All]

[ProgressiveEconomist]

as many Rs as possible to the President's agenda.

Look where Obama has gone to play Oprah in town meetings this week. Elkhart and Ft. Myers were Republican strongholds in November, but, with the help of Henrietta, Julio, and local media coverage of the President's plans, millions of "sheep" lost to Reagan a generation ago may find their way home to our side in six months or so.

Then it might be time to put pressure on somewhat more hard-core Republicans. From his time on Wall Street, Rahm Emanuel knows them well and will have developed a playbook for twisting the arms of the "sponsors" of Republican Senators like Lugar, Voinovich, Grassley, and a few others who still can feel which way political winds are blowing.

And, at the state level, money talks. Many of the billions for states in the Recovery and Reinvestment package will go to Republican governors. In six months, Team Obama will have become one of their most important "sponsors". More Republican Governors will, like Charlie Crist in Ft. Myers this week, seek photo-ops with a popular and generous President. Once that dynamic is in play, another Democratic landslide may start building for the many Republican Senate seats up for grabs in 2010.

Timing is everything at this point, IMO.