Bipartisan Action on the Stimulus Bill
It’s all about compromise in Washington.
House Republicans were all in a dither about the $200 million in contraception and health spending (that would have saved $700 million), so Obama (we hope) begrudgingly asked House Democrats to remove the offending item.
And in the spirit of collegial compromise, every single Republican voted in favor of against the bill (244-188).
Yay!
Okay - first, Obama and Pelosi should ram that contraception bill straight through the House and Senate - hanging every Blue Dog who won’t toe the party line on the way.
But when we’re done with that, we need to breathe.
House Republicans thought that Obama would break his vow to compromise. So when he accommodated them, they tried to slap him with it.
They’re hoping that Obama will call Democrat War on the Republicans so they can scream to the rafters about how they saw Socialist America coming and ooh how those Dems just can’t be trusted.
So the President should make sure to keep his bipartisan spirit, but also to remember that we can pass a goodly number of bills without Republicans (even Senate Republicans).
They can spend the next four years being vaguely obstructionist, but largely ineffectual or get on board, especially when an olive branch is offered.
If they choose the former, they better hope the economy takes Obama down with it, otherwise the voters will not look so kindly on Republicans (again) in 2010.
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