At times, Bush's indifference to the system around him bordered on a kind of political autism. And so one of the oddest aspects of Bush's presidency was his tendency to declare things as if merely saying them as president could make them so...
...Now look at Obama. What the critics misread in his Inaugural was its classical structure. He was not running any more. He was presiding. His job was not to rally vast crowds, but to set the scene for the broader constitutional tableau to come to life. Hence the obvious shock of some Republican Congressman at debating with a president who seemed interested in actual conversation, as opposed to pure politics...
...If Bush was about the presidency as power, Obama is about the presidency as authority.
What has that self-restraint wrought so far? Obama's stimulus bill passed the House today -- with every single Republican Representative voting against it. The Asian markets have, in immediate response, rallied. Obama has just hosted a cocktail party of GOP and Dem Senate and House members. Who's going to turn down that invite? He walks into the Capitol to negotiate, unimaginable for George W. Bush, and rather than diminishing his stature, he seizes the spotlight -- cool and at the helm.
What does the GOP have to show for its collective strategic genius? Only 5 states out of 50 are solid or lean Republican now. And they can't even agree on a new leader.
Of course they voted against the stimulus. It was essentially their abstention, no longer a critical element of the discourse -- to a Representative.
How it will go in the Senate, I don't know. McCain says he'll vote against, which is essentially the endorsement of that position by the definitive loser of the entire political scene. I'm not sure if it will happen in the Senate this time around, but my prediction is that as Obama's program goes through, he keeps the Dems in Congress fairly in line, markets start to rally on confidence of investment and leadership, and some of these GOoPers start to break free. Especially in states where Obama's approval rating is way above where he polled on Election Day, states he might have lost back then but could be on track to win for the Party in 2010 or himself again in 2012.
And when that happens, if it happens enough, the Republican Party will hit maximum chaos. If they're smart, they'll redefine themselves in relation to The Presider's vision rather than in opposition to it.
Because Obama is, as a community organizer, part teacher. But the Republicans still haven't learned their lesson.
They will.
No comments:
Post a Comment