Congress Approves Stimulus Package; Specter Says Republicans "Didn't Want Their Fingerprints On It"; Obama Learns a Little Lesson (News Round-Up)

by Damozel | So, for whatever it's worth, it's passed: $787 billion in stimulus measures.

Not a single House Republican voted for the bill....The House vote was 246 to 183, with just 7 Democrats joining all 176 Republicans in opposition. In the Senate, the vote, 60 to 38, was similarly partisan. Only 3 centrist Republicans joined 55 Democrats and 2 independents in favor. (NYT)

Arlen Specter, one of the "centrists" who voted for the stimulus in exchange for the opportunity to twiddle with the bits and pieces and leave smudgy fingerprints all over the moving parts says more Republicans would have voted for it if they weren't, you know, posturing for political reasons. (NYT)  He said it differently, of course:

When I came back to the cloak room after coming to the agreement a week ago today," said Specter, "one of my colleagues said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' My Republican colleague said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' I said, 'Are you going to vote with me?' And he said, 'No, I might have a primary.' And I said, 'Well, you know very well I'm going to have a primary.'"

Specter, along with centrist Maine Republican Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, joined with Democrats last week to move the stimulus bill forward. Specter said he doubted there would be any more Republican votes than those three Friday night.

"I think there are a lot of people in the Republican caucus who are glad to see this action taken without their fingerprints, without their participation," he said. (Huff Post) 

Yeah, well.  Translation:  "Thank you for saving us from the wrath of our increasingly unemployed constituents and the consequences of eight years of irresponsible GOP fiscal policy while letting us carry on reinventing ourselves as fiscal hawks."  As The Politico points out:

The Washington climate, which led to a party-line vote on the stimulus, has big political implications: It means that Obama will have sole ownership — whether that means credit or blame — for all the massive changes in government he envisions over the coming year.

Since that's how it is, next time, let's not let the "centrists" do us any favors, hmmm?  Otherwise, it'll be one step forward and two steps back all the way to the goal posts, if we ever get there at all. 

Speaking of posturing:

Despite the bill’s promise of increased unemployment benefits and new health care subsidies, as well as more than $100 billion in aid for states, House Republicans did not break rank. Even those from states hit hardest by the recession opposed the bill, in a rebuke of the new president.

During the debate, the Republican leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, angrily dropped the 1,073-page bill text to the floor with a thump, as he accused Democrats of failing to read the legislation.

“The president made clear when we started this process that this was about jobs,” Mr. Boehner said after the vote. “Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. And what it’s turned into is nothing more than spending, spending and more spending.”  (Huff Post)

So...did Obama learn a little lesson?

White House aides say they have concluded that Obama too frequently lost control of the debate and his own image during the stimulus battle. By this reckoning, the story became too much about failed efforts at bipartisanship and Washington deal-making, and not enough about the president’s public salesmanship.

For Obama’s next act, the program is the same as he has been planning for months: New Deal-style plans to rescue struggling homeowners and rewrite regulations on the financial markets, plus a budget proposal that lays the groundwork for sweeping health care reform.

But the strategy to promote these items is getting an emergency overhaul. Obama plans to travel more and campaign more in an effort to pressure lawmakers with public support, rather than worrying about whether he can win over Republican votes in Congress. Officials suggested that the new, more partisan tone Obama embraced last week in his speech before House Democrats at their retreat and continued at his news conference Monday was what he should have been doing all along. (Politico)

Well, it's refreshing to have a president who learns from experience.  I had forgotten what that was like, in case I ever knew.  I'm not sure it's really happened in my lifetime.

Meeting with reporters Thursday night, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said that there were times during the stimulus debate when “I don’t think we were sharp about the benefits” of the legislation, letting Washington process dominate the message.

Reflecting as “somebody who has been in this town,” he observed that “there’s an insatiable appetite for the notion of bipartisanship here and we allowed that to get ahead of ourselves.”

But Emanuel said that they recognized they had overdone their initial outreach to Republicans and had offered "a sharp message for the last week."

For now, the hard-charging chief of staff added, “He has an open hand, but he has a very firm handshake.”

Translation: Yes, the president will continue to do obligatory outreach to the GOP, but he’s not going to be burned again by an out-of-power and toothless minority for the sake of appearances.(Politico; emphasis added)

Actually, there is such a thing as being too candid, as Jane Hamsher points out.  Excessive candor, thy name is Rahm!

[H]e said, Washington should have learned something about Mr. Obama as well, with the shift from bipartisan overtures to outright mockery of his opposition.

Just for grins, check out Karl Rove weighing in here.   Heh. 

Meanwhile, I am going to quote the indispensable John Cole yet again on negotiating with the GOP.  Once more for good measure, a definitive summing up:

I really don’t understand how bipartisanship is ever going to work when one of the parties is insane. Imagine trying to negotiate an agreement on dinner plans with your date, and you suggest Italian and she states her preference would be a meal of tire rims and anthrax. If you can figure out a way to split the difference there and find a meal you will both enjoy, you can probably figure out how bipartisanship is going to work the next few years.  [emphasis added]

They had their chance.  To hell with 'em.  Since they showed for eight years they can't lead us anywhere except over a cliff, let them follow or get out of the way....

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Comments

[flowerplough]

Republicans "Didn't Want Their Fingerprints On Obama/Pelosi Porkulus bill? Maybe this is part of the reason why, eh?

on Page 63, Bill Text HR-1, the
Democrats just plopped down $1.6 billion for "Science" with no wording at all on where this money is going to be spent, who is going to spend it or what they are going to spend it on.
Unbelievable.

Democrats just voted to dump billions of taxpayer dollars on pet projects that are not even defined.
Do you suppose this might invite corruption?
Name one business that could get away with this.
Truly- The inmates are in complete control of the asylum.
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/02/unreal-dems-include-16-billion-for.html

[Charles]

Fortunately, Flowerplough, the actual text of the bill is online, so we know that Gateway Pundit is lying and that you are too stupid to know it. On page 746-751 of the bill, just above Title 17 (which identifies where this idiot plucked this out-of-context excerpt), it states that out of the $14B designated to the Department of Energy, $330 M (not $1.6B) shall be designated for Science. DOE probably does have an idea of what qualifies as "Science" and what does not. We can pretty well be sure they won't spend it on Fritos.

Could you please grow up and start checking for yourself before accepting some clown's inaccurate snippet as proof that the Congress is not doing its job?

[Charles]

The URL, by the way is frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h1pp.txt.pdf

[pool cover utah]

I would say this is the real naked truth on what really is happening currently.