Image via WikipediaA lot of people on the left are fretting that Obama is allowing the GOP to undermine his stimulus package by diluting it with tax cuts and reduced spending--before voting against it--thereby giving themselves an electoral boost in 2010 by showing they had the wisdom to vote against a loser of a plan.In other words, Obama is letting himself get outsmarted by the Republicans because he is naive enough to think they will end him a helping hand in exchange for his magnanimous approach to governance.
Just so I'm sure we're talking about the same guy: this is the same Barack Hussein Obama who beat powerful connected, household name Senator Hillary Clinton, right? And rich-as-hell Jonathan (pre-adultery revelation) Edwards.
And who then thumped heroic war veteran and maverick John McCain. Right?
I used to make the mistake of thinking that because this guy is a panty-waist because he aims to change the culture in Washington, get beyond partisan politics, and make government more responsive to the American people.
Anyone with ideas like that has to have his head in the clouds, right? An idealist in a world of real politik. Well, shame on me and shame on us. No wonder we couldn't elect George McGovern. We didn't have the conviction of our own ideals.
Well, I think we have to give Obama credit for being a good fighter. He may be a visionary, but he's also a pragmatist. And he's surrounded himself with folks like Rahm Emanuel and Joe Biden, who have a little bit of experience in Washington in-fighting.
With respect to the stimulus package, I don't think Obama is being taken for a ride by the GOP. I think it's the other way around. He will get his stimulus package pretty much the way he wants it--because Pelosi will play bad cop to his good cop--and the Republicans will look petty for voting against it despite the concessions the press will note that they were given.
And the truth will probably be that they didn't get very many concessions Obama wasn't willing to write into the stimulus bill anyway.
This will weaken the GOP as Obama's term progresses and he gets to tougher nuts like health care and foreign policy.
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2 comments:
I absolutely agree. Obama has made me rethink alot of my former cynicism.
I also found myself getting profoundly irritated at the supposedly "left-leaning" political commentators who would take every highlighted moment from an Obama speech or event and start there own little negative rant-- in the guise of something instructive or wise. "Well what the Obama adminstraction needs to do now..." "He has a lot of political capital and he doesn't want to lose it..." "He now realizes how difficult etc.." F--off a-- I find myself saying. Reality is what you make it. These people with their hindsight editorial superiority sound bytes are becoming annoying little flies buzzing around. We finally have someone with character, vision and drive. Piss off!
LOL. Thanks for being as, if not more, pissed off. You put a smile to my face!
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