The White House on Sunday began harnessing every part of the Democratic Party's machinery to defend President Obama's budget and portray Republicans as reflexively political, according to party strategists.[snip]
And officials throughout the party plan to hammer the idea that Republicans are just saying "no" to the president's budget plans without offering their own alternative.
Never mind that the statement above is categorically untrue. Republicans had a clear plan for the stimulus, which they all voted for prior to objecting to the "stimulus" that passed. You know, the one that is already failing to meet expectations, just as critics warned. And just as obvious, Republicans will clearly need to produce budget alternatives once Congress actually takes up the debate in the coming weeks..
Meanwhile, the aura of post-partisanship should be rapidly fading, even for those innocent (or foolish) enough to believe it in the first place. Proof:
While voters blame Republicans for the lack of bipartisanship in Washington, the fact is that they do not believe Mr. Obama has made any progress in improving the impulse towards cooperation between the two parties.
It's not as if that last point is going to improve any if the White House, especially Obama himself, becomes even more partisan.
Probably worse in the long-term politically is this reality, from the Politico story in the lede of this post:
The Democrats' new plan follows the private complaints of some Democrats that Obama let the GOP get the better of him during the debate over pork in the budget bill he just signed, and growing concerns among some Democrats that charges of big spending could stick to the president.
Maybe those charges are sticking because they're true. When the Establishment Dean of the White House Press Corps says the honeymoon is over then maybe the critics have a point?
Posted by Eric Earling at March 15, 2009 08:02 PM | Email ThisWe're dealing with a Chicago pol, stained by the dirty and one step away from organized crime Chicago politics that raised him and shaped him. He played dirty to get every seat up the line. Expect nothing less now.
And remember, "dissent is patriotic.
I patriotically despise everything he is and everything he 'stands for'.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on March 15, 2009 08:04 PMWhere there is a will, there is a way. The Republican Party spokesmouths seriously need to focus like a laser beam up and learn to communicate more effectively.
Posted by: KS on March 15, 2009 08:20 PMUm.....yah! That's the reputation HE is giving himself. He has no one else to blame. Take it back, Obama--we don't want it! (and take your ghoulish need to force doctors to do abortions even if they don't want to kill humans in utero, too!)
Posted by: Michele on March 15, 2009 11:52 PM-- CBS anchor Katie Couric to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)
Well, when you have the MSM in the pocket of the Democrat establishment, it's going to require some creativity to get the message out.
Posted by: Palouse on March 16, 2009 07:39 AMAlas, that killed the Republican party.
Posted by: swatter on March 16, 2009 09:21 AMThey have been in a hole and digging for several years, through sheer inability to counter the MSM's misleading 'questions' like the above from la Couric. When some articulate Republicans learn that they can answer the drooling mendacity with a concise counterattack (as Ari Fleischer did with Chris Matthews a couple of days ago), the party will be finally coming up for air.
It's true the the MSM gatekeepers do their best to prevent the R viewpoint from seeing the TV screens. The most encouraging development to date is that even the MSM is waking up to the crooked Chicage partisanship and raw socialism of the current administration, and wondering if the country at large couldn't do better if they allowed a peep or two (finally!) of alternate opinion and goals into the public discussion.
Six years of the mindless negative campaign against the Bush admin must have built habits into the MSM that will be hard to break, particularly while Obama himself follows the same course with his daily blame-Bush sleaze. Their autopilots have apparently been welded on stupid.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on March 16, 2009 09:39 AMWASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will call on millions of supporters to knock on neighbors' doors this week to pressure Congress to pass his record $3.55 trillion budget, a Democratic official said on Monday. . . ."
ttp://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSN1628129620090316
There was no way I was going to convince someone who is along for the ride from one end of the spectrum to another (i.e. a sheeple). Ergo, I resigned myself to the Obamination called Obama's Presidency. I felt that you young 'un had to learn the hard way because you never were taught how history repeats itself. I just didn't want to have to go through what is patently obvious.
So, I can only hope you understand the discussion here. There is a big of resignation that you young 'uns have to experience the agony and despair before you truly learn.
At least luckily, you don't (at least so far) have to suffer through a world war like our parents did before you will learn.
Posted by: swatter on March 16, 2009 02:00 PMIn finance they say that history doesn't repeat, but it rhymes...
People have noted how Obama's popularity numbers are falling fairly precipitously. Rasmussen now puts his "approval index" (strongly approve minus strongly disapprove) at just +4--it was +16 less than 2 weeks ago, and was about +30 right after his inauguration.
It has also been noted that his overall approval rating (now just 56%) is lower than Bush's was at this time in 2001, even after the whole election debacle. What is even more distressing for Obama is that, generally, the public rallies around the president in a crisis. Bush's approval rating was about 90% after 9/11. LBJ had initial approval ratings of around 80% after JFK was killed, and Ford had near 80% approval after Nixon resigned. Truman's approval rating was about 90% after FDR's death, and although Gallup did not start tracking presidential approval ratings until FDR's second term in office, I believe it is presumed that he had high approval ratings in his first year in office. Obama has never been NEAR those kind of approval numbers--his zenith was 65% on inauguration day!
You can see these approval ratings here: Presidential Approval in Perspective
Posted by: Bill H on March 16, 2009 04:22 PM