WASHINGTON —President Obama spent more than two hours in closed-door meetings with Congressional Republicans on Tuesday afternoon, outlining his economic stimulus plan and fielding an array of critical questions, before he urged legislators to “put politics aside and do the American people’s business right now.”
“The statistics every day underscore the urgency of the economic situation,” Mr. Obama said, speaking to reporters between separate meetings with House and Senate Republicans. “The American people expect action.”
A week after being sworn into office, Mr. Obama returned to the Capitol for the first of what his advisers said would be frequent visits with members of Congress. Yet it was still a rare event for a president, particularly a Democratic one, to sit down with the entire Republican conference.
Several Republicans said they would like the tax cuts to move more swiftly, according to people in the room, but the president replied that $275 billion was the most he would be willing to negotiate. The session stretched longer than an hour, with both sides conceding at several points that they have unwavable philosophical differences on many of the issues.
And how are Congressional Republicans responding to President Obama's pitch? According to the NY Times, President Obama was "greeted by a moderate burst of applause from the audience of dozens of House Republicans." A second applause occurred in the hallway outside the closed-door session that was taking place in Room HC-5, while a third, loudest, applause took place after Obama decided to continue taking questions from the Republicans for another hour. Congressional Republicans were happy to talk with President Obama, however, the Republican leadership in the House was in complete opposition to Obama's economic stimulus package:
[Even] before the president stepped into the meeting, Republican leaders in the House asked their members during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday to oppose the recovery plan unless significant adjustments are made before the bill comes up for a vote on Wednesday. They said they would ask Mr. Obama to urge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, to make changes to legislation that they believe includes wasteful spending.
“The Democrat bill won’t stimulate anything but more government and more debt,” Mr. [Mike] Pence [R-IN] said before meeting with Mr. Obama. “The slow and wasteful spending in the House Democrat bill is a disservice to millions of Americans who want to see this Congress take immediate action to get this economy moving again.”
What we are seeing here is a tap dance between the Obama administration and Congressional Republicans. President Obama extended his hand in compromise to the Congressional Republicans in supporting his economic stimulus package, and the Republicans slapped him. President Obama did not need the Republican support for his economic stimulus bill--he has strong Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate to pass this bill. However, Obama does need to play the political compromise card to show voters that he is reaching out to the opposition party in compromising such legislation, even though he isn't going to cave in on every GOP demand. At the same time, the GOP congressional leadership is also playing the same political game here. Congressional Republicans are willing to sit down and listen to President Obama, but the GOP isn't going to be a party of compromise. The Republican Party will oppose anything that President Obama or the Democrats present as new legislation in Congress. Consider this interesting detail from the Politico.com:
The frank Q & A between a popular new president and a frustrated, out of power minority party was originally set up as a diplomatic outreach by a White House that has promised to be more bipartisan.
But as the week wears on, it’s clear that the GOP is finding its voice as a stout opposition party instead of the party of compromise.
Sen. John McCain started this week's pummeling, declaring Sunday that he would oppose Obama's stimulus package as written. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has kept up a daily din of opposition to the specifics of the package, mocking the inclusion of a mob museum and a water park, and demanding more discussion and transparency. Senate Republicans are also rallying against the Democratic version of a children’s health care bill being debated this week.
The nitpicking took its toll, and Obama on Monday privately urged House Democrats to remove a notable flash point: funds for contraception that had been defended by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on national television just a day before. The Democrats agreed.
Then this morning, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) went for the jugular, urging his members to oppose the economic centerpiece of Obama's first term just hours before the president paid the Republicans the compliment of coming to the Capitol for a private meeting — even before he did the same for House Democrats.
The frank Q & A between a popular new president and a frustrated, out of power minority party was originally set up as a diplomatic outreach by a White House that has promised to be more bipartisan.
But as the week wears on, it’s clear that the GOP is finding its voice as a stout opposition party instead of the party of compromise.
Sen. John McCain started this week's pummeling, declaring Sunday that he would oppose Obama's stimulus package as written. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has kept up a daily din of opposition to the specifics of the package, mocking the inclusion of a mob museum and a water park, and demanding more discussion and transparency. Senate Republicans are also rallying against the Democratic version of a children’s health care bill being debated this week.
The nitpicking took its toll, and Obama on Monday privately urged House Democrats to remove a notable flash point: funds for contraception that had been defended by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on national television just a day before. The Democrats agreed.
Then this morning, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) went for the jugular, urging his members to oppose the economic centerpiece of Obama's first term just hours before the president paid the Republicans the compliment of coming to the Capitol for a private meeting — even before he did the same for House Democrats.
This is really about posturing for the next election by both political parties. President Obama is willing to play the PR game of meeting with the Republican opposition, even though Obama clearly knows that the GOP will oppose his economic stimulus package. In the end, Obama can come out of the meeting, telling the American people that "I've tried." The Republicans, on the other hand, are continuing their opposition against the Democrats, and the new president, with their own economic stimulus plan based on tax cuts. What the GOP doesn't realize is that the American people have already rejected tax cuts as economic stimulus when they kicked the GOP out of the White House and the Congressional leadership last November. President Obama will probably get his economic stimulus package passed without any Republican votes. The GOP is hoping for a long-shot of Obama's stimulus plan failing, thus turning the American voters against the Democrats and sending the Republicans back into the congressional majority in 2010, and hopefully back into the White House in 2012.
The tap dance continues on.
No comments:
Post a Comment