By courting the Republicans, Obama could get the worst of all worlds

[Better Believe It]

By courting the Republicans, Obama could get the worst of all worlds
Consensus among the nation's political elite is a recipe for disaster - just look at Iraq, the war on terror and deregulation
by Gary Younge
Guardian.co.UK
February 2, 2009

One of the few people prepared to give Republicans the time of day at the moment is President Barack Obama. For the past two weeks, Obama has been desperately trying to persuade them to support his economic stimulus package. After several trips to Congress for negotiations he called on Democrats to strip some elements from the bill that Republicans objected to. He also added more of the tax cuts they wanted.

Why he would go to such extraordinary lengths is baffling. He's well aware of who's in charge. During one of his first meetings, he responded to one criticism from the Republican whip by saying: "We just have a difference here, and I'm president. So I'm going to prevail on that." And people are far more keen on him prevailing than them. According to Research 2000, Obama has an approval rating of 75%. Meanwhile, fewer people have even heard of the Republican minority leader of the Senate (Mitch McConnell) or the House (John Boehner) than approve of the job they are doing.


.... far from elevating the interests of the country above the party, bipartisanship mostly achieves the opposite - suggesting that the principal aim of policymaking is consensus among the political elite rather than delivering for the electorate. The fact that the political class comes together in a cordial manner to support something does not in itself make that thing good.

It is the overtures themselves that are bewildering. The burning priority for Americans at this juncture is not that their two main parties work together. It's that their government does something to revive the economy. The concessions Obama has made to the Republicans have actually made that outcome less likely. Virtually every reputable economist agrees that the most effective way of pumping money into the economy quickly, in order to create jobs, is through public spending. Individual tax cuts are more likely to be saved, and business tax cuts take a long time to take effect.

As the economic stimulus bill goes to the Senate for negotiation, there is a real possibility that Obama may end up with the worst of all worlds: an inadequate stimulus package that has been watered down by the Republicans; a huge budget deficit; and still no support from the Republicans.

Please read the complete article at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/02/republicans-barack-obama-us-economy

[rockymountaindem]

1. Right on n/t

[BlooInBloo]

2. Obama's so fucking stupid.

[Solomon]

3. Yeah. Can we re-do the election? There's so many people here

who would be so much better than Obama. How did we get that guy anyway?

[Better Believe It]

8. He's not at all stupid, he's just been following Abraham Lincoln and not FDR's

approach to opponents. Of course, this is not 1860 and the nation and its economy has radically changed in the past 149 years.

Contrary to what President Obama says and surely knows, people are not tired of partisanship. There hasn't been any .... at least not by Democrats. There was little evidence of partisanship by the Democrat Party during Bush's 8 years! Many Democrats were in fact Bush enablers. Almost everyone of of Bush's legislative goals were passed with help from Democrats in Congress and all of his political appointments were passed by the Senate without a single Democratic filibuster!

It seems Obama has relied to much on "centrist" Democrats for political advice and has ignored the ideas and advice of authentic liberals and progressives.

Obama is beginning to appear like a very weak President and is not demonstrating leadership. If that doesn't change soon, very soon, he will be a one-term President and the Republicans will easily regain control of Congress and the White House in 2012 on an agenda that will be far to the right of George W. Bush!

[BlooInBloo]

12. " Obama is beginning to appear like a very weak President" - HAHAHAHAAH!!!!

You make it really really really hard to do anything but laugh at you.

Really.

[jenmito]

10. He sure is!

[PM Martin]

4. Obama will be making a grave mistake if...

he takes too much time/effort/consideration of his political opponents.
I've seen it happen here in Canada. The Cons will run over you anytime you try to play a gentleman's game with them.

[Skink]

5. These are the guys the voted down extending the DTV transission a few months.

They are heartless. I could understand them voting that particular program extension down if it were properly funded but it wasn't.

Now why does Obama think they would play nice on something such as a stimulus program?

[Occam Bandage]

6. God, Obama doesn't understand politics worth shit.

If only he read more lefty British columnists, he'd understand American politics better.

[Captain Hilts]

9. Younge has been a consistent Obama supporter from the get-go...

but the world of the Guardian, London and the NYT are not an accurate reflection of US public opinion in 2002/03. THAT's what he doesn't understand.

[Captain Hilts]

7. Iraq War wasn't an 'elite' policy. It was VERY popular in the US. Majority also okay with privacy

sacrifices to fight terror. Really. Younge has got to stop reading the NYT, Guardian and thinking they reflect general opinion.

But, while Bill Clinton was elected at a time when the country was still conservative - Republicans actually INCREASED their numbers in congress the year he was elected, Prez Obama doesn't seem to be taking the left turn that the rest of the country is ready to take and wants to take.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

11. Obama knows what he's doing. Keep the faith.

[tideroller52]

13. Let them hang themselves

I see this two ways. I am tired of the extreme partisanship that has almost shut this country down at times. The Republicans are showing their true colors by encouraging their members to vote no before there is even a bill to vote on. The are coming out as the bad guys to most of the public. Obama should give them enough rope to hang themselves without letting them impede his plan for getting this country back on track. It is a fine line. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt for awhile. He is holding the Aces as his hold cards and they are bluffing. They don't have a good enough hand to win. They don't have the votes and they don't have the support of the majority of the American people.

[Skittles]

15. good advice, tideroller52

yes INDEED :hi:

[chill_wind]

14. Looks like the Inaugural honeymoon with the foreign press

that was totally sick of Bush/Republicans and joyous over Obama is fading. That was short.

[Prophet 451]

17. Two reasons for that

Firstly, our economy is now tanking as well and that's partly because it was tied so closely to yours.

Secondly, and more importantly, the Guardian is one of the most lefty of our newspapers. Now, you have to remember that the centre in American politics is quite a way to the right of the centre in British politics so, while Obama's centre-left to you, he looks centre-right to us. Dennis Kucinich, regarded as a far-left loon in the States, would be a slightly left-of-centre but perfectly respectable LibDem here.

[Prophet 451]

16. Or maybe not

I'll admit that I was unsure as well but I think I'm starting to get a handle on where Obama's going with this. By making a big display of reaching out to Republicans this early in his term, he's accumulating a lot of goodwill with moderate voters. That the Republicans won't play ball just makes them look like obstructionists, it doesn't hurt him. That gives him the political capital to say, as time goes on, "I tried working with these guys and got burned, now we have to ignore them". Effectively, by trying to work with them and putting up with their obstructionism, he's innoculating the public against Republican whining when he pushes through something controversial.

[OneBlueSky]

18. well, this much we know is true . . . the situation now is so bad that . . .

only radical solutions have any chance of reversing the economic downturn . . . things like universal, single payer healthcare, strict regulation of corporations (including penalties for offshoring), etc. . .

since there is no indication that Obama is inclined toward radical change of any kind, and every indication that he is pretty much the same kind of corporatist that the BushCo folks were, I think that any chance of his succeeding in bringing about real, substantive change are slim and none . . . unless he wakes up to the magnitude of the problem and reverses course . . .