Posts tagged “compromise”
Still Waiting for Obama to Lead
Someone better recommend a treatment for the appeasement bug that’s been going around congress. This time, it’s the Congressional Black Caucus, who’ve decided to throw Black America under the bus to accommodate President Obama’s centrist agenda, while at the same time complaining that Obama’s latest bus tour hasn’t made its way enough into black communities. [...]
Walking On Water: Persistence Of Vision
I’m not a great one for year-end lists, and Looking Back (sagely or otherwise) at The Year That Was. But I thought I’d share this reflection. The biggest political story of the year, I think, should have been the huge gulf between the Obama we were sold (Obama-who-walks-on-water) and the Obama we find we actually [...]
The Grandmaster of Three Dimensional Chess
Bipartisanship Isn’t So Easy, Obama Discovers – New York Times (2/14/09): On the day before the big vote, President Obama took a freshman Republican member of Congress aboard Air Force One to visit Illinois. Before an audience in Representative Aaron Schock’s district, Mr. Obama praised him as “a very talented young man” and expressed “great [...]
You Don’t Say
Bipartisanship!: Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire abruptly withdrew his nomination as commerce secretary Thursday, citing “irresolvable conflicts” with President Obama’s handling of the economic stimulus and 2010 census. “We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy,” Gregg said in a statement released by his Senate office. [...]
Stimulus Bill Job Creation Factoids (And A Fictionoid)
The House version of the stimulus bill will cost $820 billion and is estimated to create or save 3.7 million jobs over two years. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Ben Nelson, Susan Collins et al to improve this legislation, the Senate version of the stimulus bill will cost $827 billion and is estimated to [...]
At Least I’m Not All Alone
Marshalling Their Forces – Hullabaloo (2/4/09): I think the administration thought they could be mediators between the two parties rather than leaders of the Democratic party. That just won’t work, particularly when the Democrats aren’t very good at battling the Republicans in close combat and the Republicans can make those who stay above the fray [...]
On Firefighting
The State of the Stimulus Bill: Watching the reaction from Republicans and most news outlets, I keep thinking of an analogy. There’s a nine-alarm fire, and Obama‘s the fire chief. He wants to send the cavalry, hoping to save lives and contain the fire from spreading out of control, while simultaneously taking fire-prevention steps for [...]
Stimulus Bill Shenanigans
(1) I am somewhat in sympathy with Hilzoy, when she writes: There are good reasons to try for bipartisan support regardless of how likely you think you are to succeed. If you do succeed, then both parties have some ownership of the stimulus bill, neither will be as eager to politicize it, and it will [...]
The Obama Doctrine
Obama Eyes $300 Billion Tax Cut – WSJ (1/5/09): President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are crafting a plan to offer about $300 billion in tax cuts to individuals and businesses, a move aimed at attracting Republican support for an economic-stimulus package and prodding companies to create jobs. The size of the proposed tax cuts [...]