President Obama took a short trip, one he made a week ago for his inauguration, from the White House up Pennsylvania Avenue to Capitol Hill yesterday to continue to reach across the aisle to GOP members of the House and Senate to gain support for his proposed economic stimulus package.
As you recall from last week, the President met with key members of the GOP membership of both houses last week in the White House to live up to his commitment to embrace his own call for working as much as possible in a nonpartisan fashion on critical issues.
The meeting last week did not result in any commitment from the Republican leadership to support the President’s package. The President got an earful relative to complaints that Democratic leaders in both houses were excluding GOP members from discussions and the drafting of the economic stimulus package. There are other GOP complaints also that specific programs included in the bill do not contribute to job creation or infrastructure investment.
Yesterday the President’s trip to the Capitol were clearly noted and appreciated by the Republican leadership in both houses. It is still not likely many GOP members will vote to support the President’s package in either house, as drafted by Congressional Democrats. The package does not require GOP votes to pass and it is likely the bill could be signed into law within a fortnight.
Politically, the GOP runs the risk of not supporting a hugely popular President on an issue of primary concern to the nation – stopping a plummeting economy. If the Dem effort proves to be successful, they gain a legislative record against GOP members and candidates running in the mid-term, 2010 Congressional elections.
All 435 members of the House of Representatives are up for election every two years. In the US Senate for the 2010 election, 34 seats are up as the Senate has staggered six-year terms. In addition there will be at least 2 other Senate seats up for election, part of special elections to fill vacated seats due to Presidential appointments of Senators to his Cabinet.
The President’s efforts and trip to the Capitol to meet exclusively with Republicans might not have garnered the bi-partisan support he wanted to signal confidence and unity in stabilizing the plummeting US economy. Yet, this was an excellent investment by the President for long-term relations with GOP members in Congress. That investment could bring bi-partisan support on future Presidential initiatives, and certainly is a smart move to reduce purely partisan, political procedural problems in the future, even if it does not bring votes.
One of the most important election promises made by President Obama was to change the way business is done in Washington, a very tall order for anyone to accomplish. While bi-partisan support for the $825 million-plus economic stimulus bill was not achieved, the President’s effort succeeded in achieving an important step.
Yesterday the tone of partisanship was turned down a few notches and there was a bit of a thawing yesterday, a return to a time when bi-partisan discussions and considerations where the norm.
There is a long-way to go for anyone to believe that politics in Washington has changed. However, it appears that a short-trip taken by a Democratic President out of the White House and into the Capitol might just be the first big step in the right direction.
Without winning legislative support, the President achieves confidence in his leadership and maybe the economy as well. Maybe a victory without any votes
Note: A story and audio from National Public Radio on GOP reactions to the President’s visit can be found at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99942802
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Compare that with what;s happening in the Scottish Parliament with the Govt. failing today to get its budget thru!- the vote was ties 64-64 and the Presiding Officer used his casting vote in favour of the status quo (i.e. against the new budget and in favour of continuing this year;'s one)!
ReplyDeleteI have to say it will be interesting to see if the President's early efforts to woo the GOP members will reap greater reward than the 11th hour efforts that the SNP Ministers hav ebeen accused in in trying to woo the Greens.
Thanks for your comment and thoughts. Building a relationship is an investment and cannot be done at the 11th hour, in the heat of battle or on the floor or dais during debate. Negotations when bills are stcuk or going down never make for great compromise. Investment and commitment through relationship building is a long-term investment!
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