Their Way Or The Highway
by digby
On CNN today:
Gloria Borger: I think you have to say that out of this lame ducks session Barack Obama turns out to be a big winner, even though he got some liberal Democrats in his base very upset, people voted for bipartisanship and working things out in this last election and it's very clear that Obama did not take a lot of time in listening to them and said "you know what? I heard you and we're getting a lot done."
It's an interesting interpretation and I think it's widely held among the punditocracy. But I have to say that I think it's just a tiny bit off. The fact is that the people who voted for all those new House and Senate representatives voted for conservative policies. And to that extent, Obama did hear them and passed the one thing they wanted more than anything, which was tax cuts. But he (and Harry Reid) were deft enough to take advantage of their missteps with the budget battle to get DADT repealed (with a strong assist from the Pentagon brass who still carry some weight with the flagwavers.) START was always going to get done -- it was a hostage the GOP wasn't really willing to shoot and everyone knew it.
But none of this was in response to a desperate cry from the public for bipartisanship. If it had been, we wouldn't have seen a 60 Vote pick-up by very conservative Republicans. It's convenient to think that's what they were saying, but what those voters were actually saying was for Obama to give them what they want. And he heard them. Just as he hears Mitch McConnell today:
“There’s much for them to be angst-ridden about,” McConnell said with a chuckle. “If they think it’s bad now, wait till next year.”
Emboldened by Democrats’ decision to scrap an omnibus funding bill and extend the Bush-era tax cuts for two years, McConnell is ready to deploy his larger Republican minority next year, insisting that Democratic leaders will need to bend to his party’s will — particularly on spending issues.
Indeed, McConnell is signaling that the White House should be prepared in the new Congress to support Republican policies — not the other way around.
“If the president is willing to do things that we believe in, I don’t think we’re going to say, ‘No, Mr. President, we’re not going to do this any longer because you’re now with us,’” McConnell told POLITICO in his ornate office across from the old Senate chamber. “Any time the president is willing to do what we think is in the best interest of the American people, we have something to talk about.”
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