What Republicans Really Want
by digby
Funny. MSNBC host asks what Republicans want out of the SOTU:
Luke Russert: There already is a lot of buzz up here on Capitol hiss. There already has been some parts of the State of the Union speech leaked out over the past few days and they specifically had to do with what president wants to have more investments in the American economy. Listen to how Speaker Boehner perceived that word today in a press conference on Capitol Hill
Boehner (video): The American people know that we can't continue to borrow and spend our way to prosperity. They understand that we have to tighten our belt. And I'm hopeful that the president is listening to the American people. I'm hopeful that word "investment" isn't more stimulus spending and more government here in Washington.
Russert: You can see the correlation between the word investment and and more stimulus spending made by Speaker Boehner right there. The number on issue on capitol Hill for Republicans that they want the president to address tonight is spending and the economy.They want to see some massive spending cuts in the speech tonight so the country can go forward without accumulating more debt.
Another thing they want to see is President Obama decouple himself, in the words of Eric cantor, from his policies of the last two years. Obviously the first two years of the administration put forth a lot of those classic Democratic policies like health care reform. They want him to shift the tone and leave that rhetoric in the past. It will be interesting to see if President Obama will water down his accomplishments of the past two years of which there are many in the 111th congress but that's really what the GOP would like to see going forward.
I'm sure the Republicans would also like him to officially repudiate the Democratic agenda and switch parties too. It will be interesting to see if he does that.
I have to give the GOPers credit, actually. They never lose sight of their goals. Here's Mitch McConnell with the GOP's opening ante -- zilch:
But at a breakfast event hosted by Politico’s Mike Allen this morning in D.C., which ThinkProgress attended, McConnell expressed a vision of cooperation that looks more like capitulation. McConnell said he is willing to work with Obama, as long as the president “is willing to do what I and my members would do anyway”:
MCCONNELL: If the president is willing to do what I and my members would do anyway, we’re not going to say no and –
ALLEN: But that’s not much of a concession. That’s not bargaining, to just give you what you want.
MCCONNELL: Um, I like to think I’m a pretty good negotiator.
He is.
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