Why Won't Obama Play Hardball?

By David Corn | February 9, 2009 10:56 AM | | Comments (14)

So those few centrist-luvin' Republicans are having their 15 minutes (and $100 billion) worth of fame, crafting a so-called compromise stimulus package that slices a chunk off the House's $920 billion version, while adding more tax cuts to the plan. And President Barack Obama has blessed their efforts.

He shouldn't have been so magnanimous--at least, not at first.

A nation in trouble elected Obama and his fellow Democrats decisively in the past election. The Republicans were disavowed by the public. So Obama owes them little. True, on the campaign he talked often about rising above partisan rancor. But what do you do when there is a real split in opinion between the parties and the minority party tries to obstruct the efforts of the majority party to address a profound crisis?

Obama was right to invite the GOPers to the table and hear them out. But when it became clear they were only committed to their usual same-old/same-old (tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts), he could have shifted gears and played hardball. He had the votes in the House. And in the Senate, he could have forced the GOPers to use the filibuster--rather than the threat of a filibuster. In that case, he would have a clear debate on his hand, and it would be up to him, as job losses pile up, to convince the public that his course of action (rather than Republican no-ism) was the right one. If the Republicans did succeed in blocking the stimulus with 40 votes, Obama could then bend and work out a compromise with the few moderate GOPers to break the filibuster. But the point would have been made: the Republicans were obstructionists. The end result, substance-wise, would have been the same compromise bill that exists now. But in the meantime, most Republicans would have been put on the spot.

Obama has been reluctant to get tough with the Republicans. He has spoken eloquently about his plan's benefit. And he has taken indirect shots at the GOPers. For instance, in his radio address this past weekend, the president noted,

Let's be clear: We can't expect relief from the tired old theories that, in eight short years, doubled the national debt, threw our economy into a tailspin, and led us into this mess in the first place. We can't rely on a losing formula that offers only tax cuts as the answer to all our problems while ignoring our fundamental economic challenges - the crushing cost of health care or the inadequate state of so many schools; our addiction to foreign oil or our crumbling roads, bridges, and levees.

But Obama didn't name names, and he hasn't called on his supporters to lean on GOPers. During the campaign, he amassed a list of 13 million backers. This past weekend, Obama sent a video to them in which he touted the stimulus package and called on them to "demand" change in Washington. But he made no explicit request of these supporters. At the end of the four-and-a-half-minute-long video, he said,

I hope you'll talk about the importance of this plan with you friends and neighbors.

What about picking up the phone and calling members of the House and Senate and telling them to pass it? Or emailing them? Obama and his aides appear to have turned his supporters into a discussion group, rather than a political army. Will they unleash the hounds, so to speak, at some point?

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Tags: Barack Obama, economy, Obama adminsitration, stimulus package

    Comments

  1. I totally agree that the Dems should change the rules about fillibusters -- make the obstructionists read the phone book and stay awake until they crumble. I believe changing the rule that allows a faux fillibuster just requires 50 votes, or maybe Harry can do it himself. That man is so used to being emasculated that he must think it is the new normal!

    As far as making our views known to Sens and Reps -- good luck with that. I tried calling Sen Voinivich for over four hours before someone answered. E-mails crash their servers. They don't want and can't handle the millions of constituents who are trying to contact them.

    Nothing short of losing their seats will bring the change we need.

    Thanks David

    Posted by: PunchPrincess Author Profile Page | February 9, 2009 12:07 PM

  2. Hey David...if you're reading your blog comments...here's a suggestion for you.

    Any chance you and Isikof could team up to do a comparison of what happened to government resources when Neil Bush took down Silverado while GHWB was in office and how GWB took down the economy? Who profited, who won in these messes. I'd love to see one of you power writers taking this one on... or at least bringing it up publicly.

    Please...

    Posted by: Hunter Gatherer Author Profile Page | February 9, 2009 12:10 PM

  3. Hey David...if you're reading your blog comments...here's a suggestion for you.

    Any chance you and Isikof could team up to do a comparison of what happened to government resources when Neil Bush took down Silverado while GHWB was in office and how GWB took down the economy? Who profited, who won in these messes. I'd love to see one of you power writers taking this one on... or at least bringing it up publicly.

    Please...

    Posted by: Hunter Gatherer Author Profile Page | February 9, 2009 12:10 PM

  4. ""Why Won't Obama Play Hardball?""

    why don't YOU and your peers play hardball?

    Posted by: as_if! Author Profile Page | February 9, 2009 12:30 PM

  5. I agree completely, make the Republicans filibuster so the nation sees them for what they are, people who put Party before the Nation and their own constituents. It is a tool-use it.
    Why do they need 60 votes anyway? What happened to the simple majority?

    Posted by: GG Author Profile Page | February 9, 2009 1:27 PM

  6. Well, if Barack had not at least tried to listen and receive the GOP, you'd be writing about how he didn't keep campaign promises to be post-partisan.

    Still only three week into his first term?

    Really?

    I think you're already out of meaningful material.

    Posted by: capt Author Profile Page | February 9, 2009 1:52 PM

  7. If the Republicans are going to continue to peddle their failed economic policies of the past 28 years (tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations, skimping on funds for education and social services, avoiding necessary financial regulation, etc.), and risk crashing the economy beyond repair, then it's time to tell them to go sit in the corner quietly and get out of the way.

    Posted by: Antidote Author Profile Page | February 9, 2009 4:59 PM

  8. In California, I've had better luck, and more response, faxing a letter to the floor of the House. But, good luck trying that at the National level! A letter to Feinstein or Pelosi takes weeks to get a reply, although I do write regularly, and the same for emails. I do, however, write directly to the White House as they say they want to hear from us, they say they are listening, and so far, have made some, albeit minor, changes in course when public anger got loud enough. So, for what it's worth, that appears to be one of our limited options if we don't have the voice that David has.

    I agree, however, that the Democrats need to stop being wimps and if the Republicans threaten to filibuster, then make them do it! How many young people even know what that means?

    Posted by: kacey Author Profile Page | February 9, 2009 7:15 PM

  9. here, corn, this is an entire magnitude closer to "hardball" than you and your peers would ever presume to be.:

    Leahy proposes 'truth commission' probe of Bush era

    In a Monday forum at Washington, D.C.'s Georgetown University, Sen. Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, proposed the Congress form a "truth and reconciliation commission" to seek out alleged Bush administration "misdeeds."

    http://tinyurl.com/anvnl8

    Posted by: as_if! Author Profile Page | February 9, 2009 10:46 PM

  10. Washington and the Stimulus: A Parade of Blockheads

    we may as well call the so-called stimulus bill “swimming-pool economics.” It’s based on the idea that if you take water from the deep end and pour it into the shallow end, the water level will rise.

    http://tinyurl.com/dxtylk

    Posted by: as_if! Author Profile Page | February 9, 2009 11:49 PM

  11. This is getting old. Calling President Obama a failure after a few days when his list of accomplishments is formidable. He can't undo the entire 8 years of Bush upfuckery in just a month. This partial list is rather impressive:
    http://tinyurl.com/bkkx4t

    The cumulative effect of the debate and votes is dragging the GOP further and further into a shitstorm of their own making
    Gallup's numbers are clear:
    http://tinyurl.com/c76hgq

    Posted by: Clint Author Profile Page | February 10, 2009 12:32 AM

  12. Obama doesn't need to light a fire under the indies and Dems to garner support and turn the screws on their reps. Gallup and CNN numbers bear this out. He's got their back and they've got his:
    http://tinyurl.com/crswa7

    He also has the support of some key swing-state governors.

    The crush will come eventually. That will come once the die is cast. He needs to get their ayes and nays on paper so that he can take it to the streets and tell the peeps that it's time to get physical with their Reps. Otherwise it sounds like whining from the President.

    Actually the crush is coming from both sides. Republicans are getting it from the businesses that are relying on the stimulus bill to survive. Business groups to Republicans: vote for the damn stimulus already:
    http://tinyurl.com/cc6no7

    Grab a paper bag. Put it over your mouf. Breathe deeply.

    INHALE. Aaaaah. Now EXHALE. THeeeeere. Repeat until you've regained your bearings.

    Watching the GOP's slow crushing defeat is sweet. I don't want Obama to put them out of their misery so quickly. I want to see him squeeze the life out of McConne.l and Boehner. I want to see the GOP hang themselves by their own partisan rope. I find it amusing that no one (except Washington gossips) takes the GOP or their leaders seriously. Who cares if they try to filibuster? Really!

    They just set the record for filibusters. They have filibustered themselves into irrelevancy. The GOP have drug-addled morons like Limbaugh on their side. Obama has the weight of public trust and opinion. Watch the Reds climb out on that obstructionist limb. Hear that sawing sound? That's Obama.

    Posted by: Clint Author Profile Page | February 10, 2009 12:48 AM

  13. israel holds the world record for the number of towns and villages it has ethnically cleansed: 500+

    Posted by: as_if! Author Profile Page | February 10, 2009 7:20 AM

  14. Helen Thomas's first questions for President Obama are...

    ...I have a thousand of them,” Thomas responded. “What are you going to do to fulfill your ideals expressed on the campaign trail? Or are you going to submit, like most presidents, just . . . try to carry out your promises that have no meaning except for how many people gave you money?”

    http://tinyurl.com/dxp6v9

    Posted by: as_if! Author Profile Page | February 10, 2009 7:30 AM

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