I’m with Andrew Sullivan at least this far…the Republicans have done nothing in the last sixteen years to engender any trust that they will do anything but try to destroy the Obama presidency. And the last three weeks haven’t shown anything different. Having said that, I think people are making a little too much of the Republicans’ behavior over the stimulus bill.
The Republicans wanted to demonstrate some strength at the outset of this administration. They wanted to prove that they can maintain cohesion in opposition to things they truly oppose. It was important for them to send this message even though it was a discordant rejection of Obama’s olive branch. They probably would have sought to send such a message on any major vote, so the stimulus wasn’t necessarily the primary cause of their reaction. But there is something important about how the stimulus was put together that also helps explain Republican behavior. The stimulus package wasn’t written using ‘regular order’ and did not come up through the committee and subcommittee process. There was a good reason for this…expediency. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Republicans had no opportunity to influence the bill in committee.
Going forward, individual Republicans will have the option to work in a constructive way with the Democrats on the committees on which they serve. This is basically the only way House Republicans can have any influence over legislation over the next four years. Republicans that learn how to play this game will get to co-sponsor bills and bring home projects and appropriations to their home districts. Those that don’t learn how to play this game will have nothing tangible to show for being a member of Congress. It might be comforting to be a member of the opposition and a champion among Republican activists, but it doesn’t make for much of a day job.
What I’m basically saying is that the Republicans, as a group, want to oppose Obama at every turn. But it will not be easy to keep a unified opposition in place over time. I predict it will fall apart quite quickly. And then the Republican leaders will have to choose their battles very carefully because it will be hard to keep the caucus unified for more than a few key votes. Even on the stimulus, the Republicans lost. They won some important concessions, but they lost.
It will also be impossible to attack Obama as successfully as the Republicans attacked Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton was a deeply flawed person who won a plurality of the vote. Barack Obama cannot be demonized so easily.
So, no, the Republicans are not going to embrace bipartisanship or suddenly begin wishing the Obama administration well. But they’re also not going to maintain a rock solid opposition. They can’t.
This is a partially bogus claim. The part that did not come up through regular order was the drafting; there were no hearings, no Republican participation in the drafting. Not as egregious as Republicans are claiming.
Republicans participated in committee in markup, offering amendments, discussing issues with the bill, and showing themselves to be as interested in how much and how fast money would come to their districts as Democrats were. Some of their amendments were incorporated into the bill that went to the floor. On the floor, Republicans offered extensive amendments, some of which were passed. The Republicans dominated the Senate process, with exactly the right number allowed to sign on to the bill. And Republicans were on the conference committee.
There is a little, but very little, to support the Republican whining. I comes nowhere near to the way that Democrats were shut out of the legislative process for six years.
It is political posturing, pure and simple. The first time I heard the words “regular order”, it was from John Boehner on the floor of the House. Before that House floor vote there was not a peep.
Paul Kanjorski is whining sbout regular order, too.
Political posturing. What’s his district like?
No. He’s pissed off that the bill didn’t go through his Financial Services subcommittee.
And how would that have changed the content of the bill?
Or is it a matter of not acknowledging his privilege.
I have a basic problem with the entire Congress. They have forgotten who they work for. Which was more important–to avoid bottling up pieces of the bill in subcommittees, hearings, and all the other folderol of “regular order” or to work together to get the best bill passed in the quickest time?
I’m awfully sorry he got bypassed, only because I’m afraid that he is going to take it out on the American people. What legislation could he hold up just to show how macho and powerful he is?
This is meant as a question rather than a pronouncement:
You’ve voiced this theory before, and it makes sense. But does it take in the Limbaugh factor, which is pushing from the other direction? If a congressperson thinks the wingnuts in his district are crucial to reelection, then by that logic no accomplishment need be demonstrated other than having opposed Obama at every turn. This may be a kamikaze approach, but I would hardly put that past them. In other words, either there may be some logic to continuing to oppose Obama, or there may not, but if not, I wouldn’t necessarily assume they are making rational choices. Maybe they are allied with or at least scared of Limbaugh, who is just trying to do asmuch damage as possible.
Those who stay with this approach will certainly be marginalizing themselves nationally, but will continue to make a lot of noise and get disproportionate attention.
It depends on the district, I guess. But there aren’t a whole lot of vulnerable Republicans left. Most of them could execute a gay prostitute on the Capitol Steps and still get reelected.
If they listen to Limbaugh it’s probably because he’s the smartest guy they know.
It still won’t get er dun for their constituents.
I have another theory about why the Republicans are taking an obstructionist stance. At the moment, the Democrats have an extremely popular President, a big margin in the House, and a fair margin in the Senate. If things go well in the first year or two of the Obama Presidency, the GOP could get obliterated in the 2010 mid-term Congressional elections, reducing them to a totally irrelevant party for the forseeable future. So they have calculated that they must throw the kitchen sink at Obama now, to prevent him gaining the political momentum that would prove fatal to the GOP.
I’m not dismissing your point because I think it has merit. But do you really think we’re seeing the kitchen sink here??
Vince Foster was murdered by Hillary Clinton was the kitchen sink.
Okay, so how long do we wait to determine is this is the pattern and at what point do we have to go to a new theory?
I still maintain the Republican Party of the United States must be obliterated, it’s institutions dissolved, it’s members scattered and a new party, one that actually believes government can be a positive in people’s lives, comes to power. Call if a liberaltarian wing, call it Tories, or even Real Conservatives but the modern Republican party must be dissolved.
150 years is long enough. Only the Democratic party can evolve and change to meet the times for eternity.*
*Couldn’t help it, triumphalism! Ha.
If the Republican Party is going to crack up and cease to be one of the two majors, it will happen organically over time and thru the primary process. Democrats can’t control that and I would not advocate banning political parties, so it’s not really something for us to do but only something for us watch. Maybe.