The President sent his jobs bill to Congress today.
“The only thing that’s stopping it is politics,” Mr. Obama said from the White House Rose Garden on Monday. “We can’t afford these same political games… Let’s get something done. Let’s put this country back to work.”
Matt Yglesias says House Republicans have decided to obstruct it. In their heads, any win for the President is a loss for them. He quotes the President’s speech:
Today, Obama presented Congress with his jobs legislation. In his remarks, Obama noted, “There are some in Washington who’d rather settle our differences through politics and the elections than try to resolve them now. In fact, Joe [Biden] and I, as we were walking out here, we were looking at one of the Washington newspapers and it was quoting a Republican aide saying, ‘I don’t know why we’d want to cooperate with Obama right now. It’s not good for our politics.’ That was very explicit.â€
He’s daring them to obstruct the bill. And obstruct it they will.
Marin Cogan and Jake Sherman write for Politico:
House Republicans may pass bits and pieces of President Barack Obama’s jobs plan, but behind the scenes, some Republicans are becoming worried about giving Obama any victories — even on issues the GOP has supported in the past.
And despite public declarations about finding common ground with Obama, some Republicans are privately grumbling that their leaders are being too accommodating with the president.
“Obama is on the ropes; why do we appear ready to hand him a win?†said one senior House Republican aide who requested anonymity to discuss the matter freely. “I just don’t want to co-own the economy by having to tout that we passed a jobs bill that won’t work or at least won’t do enough.â€
The trick for Republicans is to look as if they are cooperating with the President, but not so much that they piss off the baggers; and appear to be giving the jobs bill a serious look even though they plan to obstruct it. They also have to go back to the American people and say the real way to grow jobs is to cut taxes and regulations. Because that worked so well when President Bush did it. Oh, wait …
See also: Regulations, taxes aren’t killing small business, owners say
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63214.html#ixzz1Xlo27Dxh
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63214.html#ixzz1XlnrQWv0
Over the weekend, Obama basically told them to pass the whole bill, or none of it. I think that’s politically smart, lest these clowns cherry-pick legislation that helps them and their districts at the expense of others.
Obama’s saying, you either decide to share the whole pie, or not get even a crumb for yourselves.
And I’m glad he’s finally calling the Republicans out.
Obama was a masterful campaigner, but when he took office, I think he deferred too much to Congress, figuring they’ll need to do things to earn their keep. This was ok when he had Pelosi as his lead guard. But right not, he’s got obstructionists who’d rather tackle their own sides quarterback, rather than see him gain a yard.
Party over country.
PARTY UBER ALLES!!!
The minute Obama accepts anything less that his whole package is the minute he becomes a one term president..The idea of creating jobs is nice, but the purpose of the bill is to establish Obama’s leadership. It’s set up so that whoever falters,even in the slightest, gets the blame for not getting the American economy out of a rut, even as a stop gap measure.
The Repugs can obstruct it at their peril, but that is only if Obama doesn’t foolishly embrace their obstructionism by taking less than what he’s asked for. All or nothing is the crucial element…and that will determine the winner( in more than one aspect).. We can go on without jobs…but we can’t go on without leadership…especially after how the repugs have painted Obama as a failed president running from pillar to post in an attempt to provide leadership.
>>The minute Obama accepts anything less that his whole package is the minute he becomes a one term president..
Oh, God, please please please don’t do this … don’t set this up as yet another hill to die on …
I agree that this is set up to be a political weapon more than an actual proposal, but the reason why it works as a political weapon is that if enacted, it would indeed have a very good impact on the economy, and would create many jobs. That’s where the edge of that particular sword is … all the Republicans would have to do is pass the thing, and they’d be holding on to the hilt, along with Obama. Obstructing it is grabbing onto the edge with both hands, and we know damn good and well that is exactly what they’ll do.
So yes, it’s an excellent weapon and Obama should BY NO MEANS allow the Republicans to carve it up and pass the few bits and pieces that are idealogically sound as far as they are concerned. That would do nothing to help the economy and would only allow them to claim a little fig leaf of cover on the issue.
However, should Obama manage to get the Republicans to pass most of it, with some negotiated points … enough to have a real and significant impact on the economy, even if not as much impact as the pure form it’s in today … he absolutely should sign the thing into law. The only reason not to do that would be because of the polical implications of taking the Republicans off the Jobs hook … and playing politics with people’s lives and livelyhoods is what the Republicans do, NOT the Democrats. It’s part of why I AM a Democrat.
Now, I very much doubt Obama would be able to negotiate them into passing anything significant enough to warrant passing, these people are just too fanatical at this point. But if he somehow pulls it off … PLEASE let him count it as the stunning upset VICTORY that it would in fact be, don’t make it just another thing to be disappointed about!
-me